Dejah

I just bought my packets of sweets for my "Toon Hap": lotus nuts, wintermelon, coconut, ginger, lotus root, potato, carrot, Lucky candy (strawberry flavoured). I will set one up at home and take another to school for my students. I haven't seen those square fruit flavoured candies for some time. I miss those My 6 year old grandson loves Rabbit candies. He thinks it's pretty cool that you can eat the inside wrapper! This weekend, I will help my Mom and s-i-l make deep fried "zhan tay doy". These are made with glutinous rice flour and bars of Chinese brown sugar. She puts sweetened chopped peanuts inside, sesame seeds on the outside. They are a challenge for me as you have to form the dough into a balloon, then blow some air into it . The oil has to be at the perfect temp. While frying, you must push and roll the dough so that it will expand like a ballon to create a round ball with a thin crisp skin. I love these cooked with guy choi after all the New Years ceremonies. Mom used to make so many different kinds of dumplings, but she has scaled down as she got older. One that I really miss is containers of "gie lawn yuen" (hard lumps of steamed dough in various shapes)immersed in water. These are so good sliced then fried up with lap yuk, bean sprouts, etc. I will be making lo bak go and maybe taro go for the family and my students. My s-i-l always makes the neen go and matay (watechestnut) go. Do any of your families go thru' traditional rituals on New Years Day...table full of food, wine, incense, chicken with head and feet intact, etc? This is to pay respect to the gods and ancestors. I will make my visit on the 2nd day of the new year, armed with dumplings, fruit and candies, as well as lucky money for the great neices and nephews.

With dried orange peel, you just have to soak it until soft, THEN scrape off the pith. That removes the bitterness.

Hey, what's wrong with congee? ← [/quote That was actually meant to be a thoughtful ...such as " wonderful idea for a cold winter's night!" I love congee but have never made it in a sand pot.

Bran Flakes with 1% milk, no sugar, with a teaspoon so I eat slower. I alternate with Crispex, again with 1%, no sugar.

Our teachers' staff room is inside of the general office for international students. I take wraps to school for lunch as I can handle and eat the lunch easily while correcting papers. The Chinese students ALL bring their own lunch of rice and whatever is left over from supper the night before. We too have a long line-up infront of the microwaves. The smell is usually tolerable . No one has brought in salty fish yet! Some of the students who live in residence have to eat the poor attempts at Chinese food in the cafeteria. No wonder they move out on their own once their stay for the term is up! I was invited to a student hot pot party acouple years ago. They used a hot plate and a Dutch oven. The meat was crudely sliced so it took longer to cook. At least they knew enough to have more stock simmering on the stove. Turtlemeng, any ideas as to what herbs they use in the broth? What did they use to heat the hot pot? I found it was hottest using charcoal, but that required my keeping the kitchen window open for ventilation. When it is -30C, it's not a good idea.

Thanks, Betty. I will follow the instructions and hopefully, this one will last longer than the previous ones! Congee... Sounds good!

My gosh, hot pot doesn't require any cooking skill. All it takes is to be good at using a knief to slice up the ingredients. ← EXACTLY Try to imagine someone who has probably never handled a knife until they came abroad to study! On top of that, can you imagine them slicing a piece of jiggly meat paper thin? My students tell me that they are learning how to cook by talking to Mom while they are preparing their meals. I am thinking of giving a course on basic cooking along with their academic studies.

The Real Canadian Superstore in our small city of 44,000 is gearing up for Chinese New Year. They have always handled a good variety of basic Chinese groceries and vegetables. Yesterday, I found a whole array of frozen, vaccum-sealed packets of thinly sliced meats ready for the hot pot: lamb, chicken, beef, pork and pork liver. I thought they were a bit pricy, but considering that we have many young international students from China without any prep. and cooking skills, this will be ideal for them. I love dipping my food into different complementary sauces after cooking. Wouldn't everything at The Little Lamb all taste the same as it comes out of the broth? My students all seem to use the red vinegar as a main dip, not only for dumplings, but . . . Whenever we've had shopping trips to Winnipeg, our main source of everything ethnic, they would lug home at least 6 bottles each!

Betty, I would appreciate any instructions you can send along. Thanks!

My son gave me a sand pot for Xmas. I have used them in the past and after about half a dozen uses, they always crack. Clay pots and sand pots are two different items, right? The clay ones are glazed inside and out?The sand ones are rough outside with a" wire cage" on the bottom half...glazed inside? Is there a thread on using sand pots?I have only used them on top of the stove making chicken and rice. Would appreciate more ideas on how to use them properly.

Abra, I hope you are trying the Steak Sauce Bison meatloaf recipe in the website. That's the one I made. I've never used pureed veg. as part of the binder for ground meat before. Usually I just used bread crumbs and onions. This was very good. I used leftovers in pita pockets with some spicy mango chutney the next day as a school lunch. The recipe for Italian Biscon meatballs was also good. I made a lot and froze half. Last night, I browned a couple dozen, simmered in a sauce made with fresh mushrooms and served them over Chinese rice noodles. Today, I mushed them up a bit and put them into wraps with lettuce, carrot sticks, and cilantro for school lunch. The university's aboriginal/First Nation students are holding a bison burger sale. I figured I've had about enough bison for the day . I just gave them the money.

I've got a load of bison coming in soon. Hubby worked a webpage for the rancher in exchange for meat. http://www.bisonspiritranch.com/ Last summer, I ordered New York Strips and they were great. I just threw them on the BBQ, some with a light brushing of cajun BBQ sauce, and the rest with just salt and 4 peppercorn steak spice. The meat was very juicy and tender. There's a picture of them on my blog in August. I also had some ground bison. These I made into a wonderfully moist and flavourful meatloaf and some meatballs. The meatballs were great in a fresh mushroom sauce over fettuccini. I too am looking forward to seeing some ideas and recipes for the roasts. There are a few recipes on the above website.

The duck looks great! Congratulations.

There is a mention of this bean paste in the Char Sui Bao cook-off thread in the COOKING FORUM. Check the last post by jackal10. OMG! I'm losing it! Of course it was mentioned by jackal10....I forgot it was jackal who made the query! It must be the leftover alcoholic fumes from daughter's party lasy night.

I used to use wax paper, then got the idea to use the paper liners for cupcakes. The medium size ones are a perfect fit. Quite often, I make 3 different fillings:, one is char sui, another one is a filling of shitaki mushrooms, ginger, lapcheung (Chinese sausage ), and chicken stir-fried with oyster sauce. The 3rd. is curry chicken and onion. This is when I use the coloured cupcake liners . . . a different colour for each filling.

Dejah (and snowangel), using a starter doesn't necessarily make the dough noticeably sour. If you use a shorter fermentation the bacteria don't have time to develop a pronounced sour flavor. The dough just has a more complex flavor than if you used a commercial yeast. Thanks, edsel. I'll have to try the starter method. I have always just used the baking powder method for steamed baos.

I put slices of lapcheung into the broth to cook at the same time as the wontons. This adds flavour to the broth. The wonton filling is ground pork, shrimp, waterchestnuts and seasonings. This is enough for flavours inside. Check here for a pic of the wonton soup from my foodblog last summer. http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/foodlog1.html

When sourdough starter is used, would that not give a very different flavour to the bao? I love sourdough bread but can't imagine how it would taste in char sui bao.

Chinese seaweed...the purple/greenish sheets used for making soup- jee choy? (or dee toi in Toisanese). I've never tried that. I too add Chinese greens to my wonton soup, such as yeu choy or Shanghai bak choy. If I don't have either in the house, romaine or iceberg lettuce will suffice. For more flavour, I may also add slices of lapcheung. I prefer cilantro to green onions, and I must have chili oil and sesame oil with mine.

Unless you are making a big pot of chicken stock, 1 chicken seems extravagant. Keep packages of fresh chicken necks, backs, and fresh carcasses in the freezer. When you have a hankering for chicken stock for wonton soup or whatever, throw some into a pot with slices of bruised ginger. If you want to make a big pot of stock, you can use a whole chicken. Bring water to a boil, add slices of ginger and the chicken. Bring everything to a boil again, then simmer until the chicken is just done. This will give you full flavoured stock as well as "bak jam gai" for a main course!

I'm sure Ben is right: how much better to have it made for you and served with such style (did said gorgeous young lady feed the pancakes and duck skin to you as well, Ben, or am I just fantasizing?!). Me thinks Ben was fantasizing "Skin on an alabaster toned doily is a good memory. biggrin.gif" Was that a doily or a dolly?? I have never made Peking duck, but I watched Ming Tsai do it on one of his shows. He used a tire pump and a fan. For marinate, he used a mixture of honey and water, I think. For myself, I make the Cantonese roast duck. I poached the stuffed and trussed duck in a boiling mixture of water and honey. I do let it hang to dry for a couple of hours. The oven cavity doesn't allow me to hang the duck, so I roast it on a rack, starting with breasts down. When it turns a nice golden red colour, I'd flip the duck over, baste it with some diluted honey and finish roasting until the duck is gorgeous! For the inside liquid, I use a mixture of wine, whole brown bean sauce, ginger, garlic, and star anise. In restaurants and BBQ houses, they use an upright oven that allows for hanging of the bird. I believe it also rotates so the birds get an even colour.

I use poultry skewers to close the cavity. Pull up the "pope's nose" and tuck it into the cavity. Then pull one side flap of the bird to overlap the other side and secure it tightly with a metal skewer from one end of the cavity to the other end. You may still lose some liquid, but more through seepage. The amount will vary, depending on whether you are hanging the duck or laying it on a rack to cook. I hope you are putting in more than just water.

I watched an episode of Simply Ming this afternoon. Ming Tsai and his parents made a Master Braising Liquid with pretty much the same ingredients as hzrt mentioned in his first post. They added a whole orange and orange peel. They braised butter fish and suey choy, duck legs with sweet potato and daikon, grilled rib eye steak with red roast-carrot syrup, and a red roast beef shank sandwich. They didn't talk about keeping the master sauce tho'. If interested, the URL is: http://www.ming.com/simplyming/showrecipes...isingLiquid.htm

hzrt:"Skim off the fat with a spoon. Only retain the true liquid before putting in to the freezer." It's actually a good idea to leave the layer of fat on top of the sauce, especially if you keep it in the fridge. This hardens and acts as a sealant, keeping the flavours in and molds, etc , out. Lift it off when you want to use the sauce. I do this as well when I make chicken stock.

This Toisanese family also! I love chicken wings done this way. I usually strain my sauce before I put it away. The bits and pieces tend to get "rubbery and mushy" sitting in the liquid. I had asked about a recipe( in another thread) for the yellow coloured octopus found hanging beside Cantonese ducks at my Chinese BBQ shop. I just realized that it was cooked in Lo shui...pronounced in Cantonese with the long vowel O in LO.