Dejah

I actually tasted the Korean version at a workshop lasr weekend. Beside the whole chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng, red date, cognac was also added to the broth. The aroma was incredible, but I really didn't enjoy the rice part. Would that make it doubly strong ... at night?

The "chop suey" American style chow mein was always on our Soo's menu. This was shredded cabbage, onion, celery, mushrooms and whatever meat ordered...beef, chicken, pork, shrimp. The noodles were a favourite for everyone. We used to make our own once or twice a week. This was my son's specialty when he worked for me. He was taught this task as he had strong arms from working out! The noodles were eggs, flour, and a pinch of salt...no real measurements. The dough was rolled out on a huge prep. table, cut into uniform strips about 1/4 wide. These were shakened loose then deep fried. The bits of flour on the noodles always killed a deepfryer full of fresh oil. The finished product was cooled, then stored in a big barrel. A bowl is always set out with the consomme soup, and these were used to top the "chow mein". The noodles were light in texture, not like the hard crunch of store bought ones. It was hard to keep staff from constantly snacking on them! I used to set out bowls of them at our Saturday jam sessions in the banquet room. It was required ( and became addictive) to take a noodle and dip in Dave's insanity (habanero) sauce before eating. Talk about "hot licks"! My Mom used to make " keh mah" with these noodles and maltose. They were the best!

Daw Jeh! Ah Leung. You are certainly taking good care of your elders. This re-energizer will give me the boost I'll need for my weekend of entertaining and for Halloween! There's been warnings about ginseng for people with high blood pressure. My brother and s-i-l will no longer touch it, whereas 18 years ago, we credited this herb for saving my brother's life after a year's radical chemo for leukemia. I don't imagine this amount of ginseng, in a soup, shared by a family, will affect one's blood pressure. Do you know anything about this? Another warning I have been giving (by Po-Po) is to not eat any root vegetables for 24 hours after eating ginseng. We've received excellent quality ginseng from family and friends, but I don't often cook it other than as a highly concentrated "soup". This I do in a ceramic container inside a pot of boiling water. The herbalist had used a special saw to cut the root into slices and packaged for for 4 small cup servings. The process takes 4 hours. Now, I have another way to enjoy genseng. Thanks!

Dai Gah Jeh...where were you when I needed you??? It turned out exactly as you described...dry to the taste I added some hard-boiled eggs into it towards the end. ← I was teaching when you needed me...but not about tenderloins. Dare I say this, " Tepee! You put hard boiled eggs in everything!"

hrt, In "lo mein", what does the character for "lo" mean? When it is said in Cantonese, I assumed it meant "mix together"? When I make this, I use soft egg noodles. These are mixed together with bean sprouts, thinly sliced vegetables like suey choi, onion, celery. In the restaurant, we added carrot juliennes for colour.

Marc, your changjorim sounds good! I think I will try both hzrt's and your version soon...maybe this weekend for my Chinese guests. hzrt, I've looked at those bottles of Chinese marinate on the grocery shelf. Never tried any, but I will have to buy a bottle now. You've used it in acouple pictorials already. So, if it's good enough for our banquet chef, then it's ok by me! I think using a "nice piece of tenderloin" would be a waste...The whole idea is the nice gelatinous tendons in with the meat. With tenderloin, the meat would fall apart before it could absorb lots of flavour. I find that with making beef stew. If I use a lean cut, as with chunks of "stewing beef", I find the meat just falls apart and dry to the taste. If I use shortribs, with bits of fat and gristle, it is moist and flavourful.

I never see whole beef shanks. They are always cut into thick "slices". I guess if I ask the butcher, he can cut it special for me. Is there another cut that could be used as a substitute for beef shank? What else did you eat with this dish, hrzt?

In the Asian grocery store I go to, the dried fish maw is usually found where other ingredients are located: dried mushrooms, oysters, squid, etc. Is that going to be in an upcoming pictorial?

Now that you've got the pagoda prototyped, Tepee, could you send one over for my brother's 68th birthday this Friday? How did you make the cake? Was it one cake then cut into varying sizes before stacking? Is it spice cake as we would know it in North America?

That looks like sturgeon(in your link)...one you would be familiar with in Manitoba, prasantrin. I have heard of people sprinkling 5-spice powder on top of the fish before steaming. If I want to mix the fish and pork into my rice before eating, I keep the pork "loose" by using chopsticks to mix in the seasonings and don't press the meat into a patty. That way, I get little bits mixed throughout the bowl of rice...along with some sauce, of course!

What's great about pan-frying the noodles is that the outer layer is crispy, but the noodles underneath are soft and will soak up some of the sauce. This makes for great textural contrast. When I cook the noodles, I like to sprinkle in some sesame oil at the last minute. Some of my customers used to order just noodles for a snack.

Hi Michael, Doing my "rounds" before bedtime. The recipe for Mah-la Gau is from Chinese Snacks by Wei-Chuan Publishing. I made a little alteration to the recipe at the "urgings of my Chinese aunties". This made the texture "chewier = gnun". The ingredients are all purpose flour, glutinous rice flour (this is the change), baking powder, brown sugar, eggs, and butter, evaporated milk, baking soda, vanilla. I mix it all up, pour it into a Saran lined 9 inch springform cake pan, and steam for 30 minutes. The whole process may take less than an hour. I had made 4 of these cakes earlier in the week for my international students and for participants at a qi-gong workshop. They all liked the light spring texture and the "not too sweet" element of the cake, as well as the fact that it was steamed. It was a welcomed treat for my Chinese students as this was something they were familair with and were missing. I wanted to make another for this "party". My family gets to have some this time around!

This isn't really banquet fare, but Irwin travels a great deal and gets to savour lots of banquet fare. So, in honour of his 69th birthday tomorrow, I decided to make these two homey dishes for his birthday luncheon: Stir-fried beef tenderloin with tomatoes, egg, ginger, and scallions Steamed Mah-la gau May you have many more years to enjoy all the wonderful food and friendships eGullet has to offer!

I should NEVER check this thread so early in the morning...Would I be crazy to make this for breakfast!? Ok, send me 2 orders, please! My daughter China is looking over my shoulders and says, "You're the best! Ah Leung Sook!" She's a white chicken meat eater too. She likes the noodles crispy, so I usually save some aside before I pour on the meat/veg sauce.

I have 3 kinds of "bean sauce"... Brown bean sauce with whole beans by Yeo's. I use this mainly to steam pork dishes. Guilan Chili sauce, and Toban Djan by Lee Kum Kee. These I use for Mah po dofu, kung pao, and any other dish that reguires kick. I probably use toban djan the most. If I want spicy black bean garlic sauce, I just add chopped chilis to my black beans. I can read the da#& labels 'cos the writing is too small.

Come on, hzrt, you know you use white meat 'cos the wife eats only white meat!

Great list of suggestions, Ah Leung....I'm think! I'm thinking... Wintermelon soup with diced Chinese mushrooms with pork Bak jahm gai with ginger and scallions Steamed basa with fermented black beans and garlic sauce Kung pao shrimp on deep fried funsee Bison stir-fried mixed veg (snow peas, lotus root, black fungus, bamboo shoots, etc) These will all be very manageable on my NON-24000BTU stove! I know my family and I love steamed meats with mui choi, etc, but I wonder if it is suitable for guests? I should mention that 2 other guests are Caucasian...one we are meeting for the first time. Maybe I should make tofu soup with ham yeu tow (with Ben's favourite ingredient: fu yu, and hzrt's signature shrimp sauce) Just kidding!

I'll have my kitchen stocked up for your visit. You'll have to demonstrate some of your favourite recipes while you are here to deliver my book! One professor is from Nanjing, the other is from Jinan City. See what you can cook up so I can set up my menu. I should substitute beef with bison for one dish. That way, I can sneak in a bit of Canadian food!

Ah Leung, Gaining quite the following here! How does it feel? Did I ask you to reserve the first copy of your impending cook book for me? I'm going to look over your pictorials and see what I will serve my visiting professors from China. One is shadowing hubby, and the other is a "student" in my class while he is teaching Chinese painting and watercolour. Got any suggestions to wow them?

Ah...the Queen of Food Porn is back! And hot! Welcome back, Yetti.

For sizzling rice, we served it as a soup. The sizzling rice is brought out hot on a hot plate. Along side is a bowl of very flavourful broth with choice of meat and vegetables. At the customer's table, we'd put the rice into a large bowl, then pour the soup onto the rice. Snap, crackle , pop! It's like fan jiew! Our BBQ sauce for the hot plates was tomato based, with several other ingredients in it. Must dig it out from my pile of stuff! It was best with chicken or shrimp, tomato wedges, green pepper, onion and pineapple chunks.

Ma La is good...especially with noodles, wontons, tofu. I have made my own ma la yeo with sesame oil and habaneros, or with good vegetable oil, Thai chilis, garlic and ginger. Best to make this in the summer with your windows wide open and all ventilation systems on full blast. The fumes are worst than a sizzling chili/curry hot plate I find habaneros give a distinct flavour to the oil...quite different from the chili, or Thai chilis. Used to stuff the habs with cheese, batter 'em and deep fried. Hubby can handle these, but I ODed on them and can't pop them like I used to. I don't bother making my own ma la yeo these days. Found a good commercially made one called Siagon Chili Oil. It's actually a Canadian product...Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The hot is from cayenne peppers. It's hot but not as deadly as the habaneros. I can't imagine anyone eating all those 30-40 chilis. Surely one can get the same effect with 10? Must be for shock value, and they certainly add to the colour of the dish. Double your pleasure...really get your money's worth!

Usually when we say "braised", it does mean cooking IN the sauce for a period of time. It may depend on the size/thickness of the fish. I do braise when thick fish steaks are used. MY dog Atticus doesn't like fish... Sorry, hrzt...just had to poke fun at you... All your pictorials have been delicious! Keep 'em coming...

So I was pretty much on when I used the term "fermented" rather than rotting! I find that we don't eat quite as much with the firm variety. The juice from the steaming with pork and ginger is particularly good with "fan jieu". My Mom loves to tell my kids how I used to sit on the stoop of our house in Toisan, a bowl of fan jieu in hand, one spoonful for my nephew, two for me.

I use a large whisk to "blend" the congee when it is ready to serve if I want it creamier. You can also make it creamier by "thickening" with rice flour. One of my sons likes pork silk in his congee...He also likes to eat the pork out-of-hand.