Dejah

I am assuming that Bing Pei indicates that these mooncakes are not baked, but rather, chilled? Have never had one, but Tepee...they look lovely! Have you devoured them all...or will they be kept for Moon Festival?

Midland's - a name from my restaurant days. We used to get supplies from them too. Farmer's market in Brandon, down the hill along the riverbank, and in a downtown shopping centre parkade.They have just the usual carrots, zuchinnis, etc...never any Asian vegetables...Superstore has those covered. One of the vendors has local honey and I usually buy small jars of different flavours - great on toast on a cold winter morning.

I cooked for a gang of 26 last night. Unfortunately, no pictures as I was too busy cooking and everyone else was too busy munching or visiting! Can this menu be any more international for a Chinese/Scottish family composition? Greek salad, Chinese cucumber salad, Waldorf salad, Vietnamese summer rolls with B.C. smoked salmon, whole clove garlic bread or potato rosemary bread (store bought), Saudi Arabian lamb on flat bread, BBQ Manitoba bison strip loin or beef tenderloins, Cajun spiced BBQ chicken breasts, jasmin rice, English trifle, Okanogan Vallley cherries and white flesh peaches, Texas watermelon, daughter's choice of wines were a shiraz and a cabernet merlot from Australia, a merlot from Chile, and a white from the Okanogan. Nephew brought a Single Cask Old Barbados Rum, 1995 from Secret Treasures, for dessert. There was nothing left except for the watermelon rinds and cherry pits!

Hi AzianBrewer: Welcome to eGullet and the Chinese Forum. I love balsamic vinegar for dipping my baguette in, and I also marinate a roasting chicken with it before popping it into the oven. Balsamic might work in an emergency as a stand-in for black vinegar , but it may not be vinegry enough to work as a substitute.

Even tho' the pros outnumber the cons two to one, I think the "cons" won this round hands down! It would be a good visiting concept, and may work if there were serving utensils?

trillium and Jo-mel both mentioned how difficult it is to make good ha gow skin. I think only my "aunties" know how to make it perfectly everytime. I need a few more years under my ...errr...apron. Any suggestions from your experiences? I use a pre-packaged ha gow flour, but add 2 heaping tbsp. potato starch to the mix. Boiling water is added slowly just until 95% of the flour is incorporated...a little flour is still visibly dry. This is left to rest until it is slightly cooled - just so you don't hop around with pain from the heat! Knead gently until all the flour is worked into the dough, very soft but not sticky ( about a minute). Roll into a long sausage about 1" thick. Cut into pieces and flatten in the tortilla press. I wrap both parts of my press with saran wrap. This keeps the dough from sticking.

The syrup collected from a container of thinly sliced Spanish onion layered with brown sugar is an old Icelandic recipe for croup or phlemy chest. Onion is a natural expectorant and the addition of brown sugar makes it into a nice sweet syrup that makes drinking easier. Cranberry juice for urinary infections. Grape juice to make you pee lots. Ginger for cleansing the blood and for queasy stomaches. Cloves of raw garlic tucked up between the gums and inside of your cheeks will cure a cold, prevent a cold, or make you into a great bluegrass musician. Comfrey leaves make a good poultice on a festering wound. Water from the first rice washing clears up facial blemishes ( so said my Po-Po). Rehydrate conch meat simmered with an old laying hen will improve hearing...so you can hear the ocean in the conch shell. Deer tendons simmered with Chinese herbs to improve strength in the legs.

I used to buy brown bean sauce ( man see/ mean see?) in a large 48 oz cans. I can't remember the brand, but now, I have a jar of whole bean brown bean sauce by YEO'S in the fridge. Haven't tried eggplant with this, but it sounds good! I use it with pork ribs and plums in brine. Mix a couple spoonfuls into the ribs. Let it marinate then top with pieces of these salty plums. Steam for about 30 minutes and eat with lots of rice. Mouth is watering and we just got back from eating out! I also use it to make BBQ duck. Mom uses it for siu jook. Sister-in-law uses it with chicken for baos.

Thanks for the confirmation. BTW, did I mention I'm a guy? Perhaps this is Dejah's MO. Maybe an intentional or non-intentional method of finding out by assuming? Since the statement usually elicits a reactionary response... ← Whatever works

Please take pictures of the "possibly exploding custard"

Understood...Now...

Are you sure you meant "prevent" instead of "encourage"? For me the end goal is always a light yet firmly crunchy, evenly blistered surface. ← sheetz is correct in her use of "prevent" because she is referring to the outer layer of the skin which prevents crispiness. Those da#* relative pronouns.

250C = 482F celsius fahrenheit calculators: http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en...tor&btnG=Search ← Roughly, eh? I don't think there'd be much pf a tart left at those temps!

Now THAT'S I would call packing for a trip! I can't believe all the equipment, etc you are taking for this trip. How long are you going to be at the rental? How many people will you be cooking for? Looking forward to seeing all the action!

Yum... the prep sounds divine. What exactly does the lye water do? What is it's purpose? ← Don't ask such difficult questions! The lye water must do something to the skin to help make it crispy. Remember, she made holes all over the skin so the lye water would penetrate.

I agree. 250C = 420F roughly. Doesn't seem overly high. ← Just checked two of my books. The ingredients are similar, but the method of baking is different, along with the temperature. Wei Chuan = 360F (180C) Bake until the egg at the edges turn yellow. THEN, turn OFF the heat, cover the tarts with a cookie sheet and leave them in the oven until the custard is firm Pei Mei = 250F for 20 minutes. I bake my fruit pies at 425F for the first 10 minutes to set the raw fruit cooking, then I turn it down to 350F. I think if you bake the custard tarts at 420F for the entire time required, the custard would boil over and the pastry would burn. However, I am still practising my dan tarts... So, if someone is baking them at 420F, please take pictures.

Just got back from question Mom on the suckling pig , or siu yook. She makes sure the skin is free of any hairs, then using an ice pick (seriously dangerous woman!) she punctures the skin side. Then she rubs lye water (gan sui) all over the skin surface. On the meat side, she rubs in a mixture of mean see (brown bean sauce), hoisin sauce, 5 spice powder and cloves of minced garlic. The meat is left to marinate for several hours. (We are talking a slab of pork belly here) When it's time to cook it, the oven is cranked up to 400. She used a commercial roaster, or you can use any pan with sides what the meat will fit into. She puts some oil into the pan, let it heat up real hot, then lays the meat skin side down into the oil. Becareful as the oil will splatter as soon as the meat touches it. This plus the lye water will make the skin crispy. If the meat is about 3 inches thick, she said it will take about " bat gaw jee" 40 minutes.

I can't comment on whether the baking temperature is correct or a typo. ← It's a typo. It's supposed to be 250F That's what the recipes I've tried say. Slow oven so the custard sets properly without bubbling all over the place, leaving little in the shell.

TP, does it mean "Da truth" ← "Word!"per Urbandictionary ="I agree." can be used to express agreement and approval in several ways. 1. a: "Man, that song rocks." b: "word!" 2. a: "I'm not gonna take crap from him anymore." b: "Word!"

"Word!" ← "Word!"???

We'll be heading off to Chicago the second week of August for a conference. We'll be staying in Oak Park, but will have some time to explore a bit. I want xiao long bao! Is there such a thing in Chicago? Any recommends for dim sum restaurant?

Yes! Could you post the recipe? AND your secret recipe for the thousand layers tart shell.

Thank you. Precisely why I asked. And the peppercorns, just regular black, white, green and pink mix, correct? ← In my Charlie Brown moment, I forgot to answer the peppercorn question. I use a bottled 4 peppercorn steak spice mix. It has the aforementioned 4 peppercorns plus garlic. I use it on everything! This peppercorn is by choice because I like it so much. Ordinarily, white or black pepper can be used. I brown the meat because this is an adaptation. The ribs are baked, so the browning step adds more flavour and colour. I started doing this way because we served it in the buffet. I never worried about the tenderness of the side ribs because they are always tender done this way. I also do the steamed version. It is more traditional, but Po-Po sometimes find it difficult for her teeth.

Because you want to maintain the integrity of the dough of the mooncake, it would be best to avoid rapid defrosting to minimize condensation and moisture. Defrost the mooncakes in the fridge overnight and probably the better part of the next day before eating. ← Oh yeah, right....overnight and better part of next day...Give me a few seconds in that microwave!

Oh my! Sue-On! What a feast! Was it your birthday? Happy Belated Birthday! ← Tepee: Part of it was my bday back in June. We just collated 3 sessions into one page - less work that way. The seafood feast was for my bday, along with the cake pictures. The ribs and chicken balls were done last week. Those chicken balls are just like the ones we served in the restaurant...one mouthful of pure meat lightly coated with cracker meal. The sweet 'n' sour sauce was very light. None of that sticky "Xmas sauce- ticket to diabetic coma" for me!