Dejah

Seeing some unfamiliar combinations in the Chinese soups posted by huiray and liuzhou. Learning something new everyday on egullet. One of my favourites is butter melon soup. I've never had it with mushrooms of any kind, but I love adding rehydrated oysters - seared in a hot pan with a shake of pepper and a big chunk of ginger before adding to the pot of pork ribs and stock. This is simmered for an hour of so before adding the bitter melon to simmer for another hour or so.

Needing salt...so...pork ribs steamed with brown soy bean paste and brined plums. Satisfied the need!

A friend pruned his kaffir lime tree today and gave me ALL the branches he cut. I've got 5 large Ziplock bags of leaves plus a couple dozen of the limes. Besides Thai cuisine and a Kaffir lime syrup cake : (based on a recipe from Mix & Bake by Belinda Jeffery), how else can I use these leaves?!

longroper is correct in his description of the Cornish / Rock hybrid. When I had my restaurant, we did not buy frozen chicken parts, battered chicken parts or breaded parts from a supplier. We bought our quick frozen whole chickens from a local Hutterite colony, who raised these chickens especially for our use. These chickens were kept around 10 lbs each, and we'd buy 1000 lbs every 2 weeks. These chickens were cut up by my kitchen staff, 20 each week day and more on the weekends. The breasts were huge but still tender. The legs were pretty meaty too. We cut the meat up according to our dishes. Our customers were happy because they always got good sized pieces of meat in their chicken balls, which were breaded and never battered.

Robirdstix: Happy to see the chicken marsala. It's been quite a while since I made it! Scubadoo97! Want to lick the screen...that sauce! Homemade BBQ sauce? Care to share the recipe? I made Brazilian Chicken in Cococnut Milk last week, but gave most of it away to my Brazilian students. So tonight, I made a double batch, and we really enjoyed it. Hubby prefers breasts but he got a leg as well: his plate I prefer legs and wings: my plate

Liuzhou: Did you use fresh duck or Chinese BBQ duck? I have seen a couple of recipes using the BBQ duck and wondered how that would taste.

Toliver: Yes. I used my Cuisinart food processor, with the grater blade. Cut the cauliflower into chunks. Feed into the shoot and grate. One head fills up the bowl pretty good. The cauliflower is microwaved for 4 minutes in my corningware dish with a lid on. Do NOT add any liquid. Beat eggs with salt and fry up into a pancake. Chop and set aside. Meanwhile, dice sweet bell peppers, Spanish or green onions, really, any veg that you'd have on hand or want, along with a bit of garlic and fresh ginger. Stir-fry the vegetables with a bit of oil and seasonings. Take the vegetables out; rinse out the wok. Heat up the wok and add just enough oil to give the wok a light coating. Add the "rice". Stir and toss which air dries the cauliflower a little bit more, but leave it in contact with the HOT wok just enough to allow a bit of scorching.. This gives it a bit of "wok hei". Season with a sprinkle of salt. Add the vegetables and egg back in. Mix well and eat. The yellow colour may have been from the vegetables, egg as well as the frying in the wok. NO soy sauce or curry was added to this batch. You can add diced cooked meat to this as well as curry powder for a change. I sometimes add Chinese chili oil. This really is a good substitute for rice if you are on a no carbs diet. This keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days. I have tried cauliflower "mashed potatoes" and cauliflower rice. This adaptation is much more appetizing. Here's another one that I made earlier in the month.

[Host's note: This topic forms part of an extended discussion which grew too large for our servers to handle efficiently. The conversation continues from here.] Supper: Yeem Gok Gai: Mock Fried Rice - grated cauliflower Baby Shanghai Bok Choy and ginger

I have both bamboo steamers and steel pot steamers. My Causasian s-i-l uses the bamboo ones. I think may be he thinks it's the thing to do...Bamboo = Chinese . I use them for decor. I've always used my steel steamer because of the sheer volume whenever I cook. Inspite of having retired from being a restauranteur, I can't get away from cooking for 2. I DO have students who appreciate the extras. I steam a dozen baos at a time, and these are not small ones. I am careful to take the lid off and wipe away the condensation at the half way point, so the baos are never soggy. But, I DO agree that there is more moisture delivered onto the food being steamed in a metal pot. That has happened a couple of times when I've forgotten to reduce the liquid in the dish before steaming, as with black bean garlic ribs, fish, etc. If there is lots of rice, no one complains.

The feijoada I posted up above is for tomorrow. Tonight, we had Brazilian Chicken in Coconut Milk. The chicken was rubbed with spices: cumin, tumeric, coriander, cayenne pepper. These were browned and cooked through, then set aside and kept warm. Made the coconut milk sauce: browned chopped onion, garlic, jalapeno peppers, ginger, chopped tomatoes, in the same pan with the chicken drippings and brown bits. Added the coconut milk, simmered, then poured over the chicken. Eaten with black beans and rice

It's been an all day Brazilian adventure in my kitchen today! My first attempt at Brazilian feijoada. The students will have this either for lunch or supper tomorrow. May be for supper as I don't want them falling asleep during my writing class in the afternoon! I am pleased with the results, authenic or not. Made a black bean and rice dish as well. All simmering happily in the pot.

I like Romaine, especially the heart, which I split length-wise. No pre-blanching is needed really, expecially with iceberg, which I also chunk. After sauteeing a couple minutes, I spash in a bit of stock (or water, then add oyster sauce. I could make a meal with just that! There ARE rows of black bean sauce at the larger Chinese supermarkets, but usually, I just like the simple make-at-home stuff.

Let the feijoada begin! I am following the recipe posted by johnnyd in his foodblog - a recipe adapted from "A Little Brazilian Cookbook" - Elizabeth Lambert Ortiz, as well as Tyler Florence of FoodNetwork. I am too impatient to get this dish going, so I will (run and duck!) substitue corned beef for carne seca. I've seen this suggestion a couple times so I will follow suit. Couldn't find any smoked hocks, so I bought a fresh one, simmered it, and used the liquid to cook the black beans (soaked overnight) along with the meaty bone from a smoked pork shoulder. Along with chorizo, I am also using hot longanisa, fresh beef shoulder tender, and pork ribs. Keep your fingers crossed!

Got all the ingredients for the Feijoada, except for the more obscure pig parts and carne seca. Will have to adapt somehow. Florence Tyler suggested "corned beef"...we'll see. Will read thru' johnny's cook-off again before starting this afternoon. If it turns out decent, I may surprise my students with lunch. Tonight, I've seasoned chicken breasts and thighs with cumin, coriander, cayenne, tumeric which will end up as "Brazilian Chicken with Coconut MIlk". It's a recipe I found on-line, and I'm not sure how authenic it is, but anything with coconut milk and the spices mentioned has got to be good. Sylvialovegren: I will definitely try your Brazilian Coconut Shrimp Stew later this week!

Liuzhou: Lettuce in oyster sauce is one of my favourite things to eat. I love it under a plate of braised mushrooms, under abolone, or just by itsrlf. So simple yet so good! It's like the baby bok choy in a braise claypot dish. If out in later, it can still have some of that crunch, but oh boy! It absorbs the flavour yet adds the "swetness" to the dish. Thanks for reminding me to make this more often, especially when there's is no other veg. in the crisper or I am lazy. I tried the bottled black bean sauce once and it went into the garbage. Maybe it's not the right brand, but it tasted chemically, too salty, just not right. Homemade is easier to control, and the dried fermentated black beans keep so well. I like to steam pork ribs with this sauce. The claypot service is like the East Indian "tifin service", except diners don't get to keep those containers. The pots are very cheap then in China. I imagine most will end up as flower pots or in the garbage. Seems like such waste when we tend to use ours so carefully. I will have to look out for such a service when I visit next spring. Don't think I'll bother bringing any back in my luggage.

Today, picked up a cut of beef I've never seen in our stores: petite shoulder tender. I'm not sure how to use it, but google said grill, pan-seared, roasted? Any suggestions? So, I sliced one up and could tell right away that it will be tender. Marinated with salt, MSG, oil and cornstarch. Made up a quick curry stir-fry with Patak Hot Curry paste with chunks of bell pepper, onion, and a jalapeno. It was a good supper.

Thanks, heidih!

My students come from various countries. Whenever a new country is added to our roster, I like to try cooking dishes from there. This term, I have 7 from Brazil! Feijoada is listed whenever I google for Brazilian cuisine. Do YOU have a favourite tried and tried recipe for his dish? The only ingredient I can't buy is carne seca. From another thread, I guess I could prepare it at home. In fact, any Brazilian recipes would be great. Thanks!

Liuzhou: You mentioned up-post about sand pots - that restaurants deliver food in them and that they are quite disposable... Do you pay extra for them? Do you get to keep the clay pots? I just wondered about the cost... With our -40 windchill temps of late, we've been enjoying Hot 'n' Sour soup. I made a big pot of the basic stock / ingredients last weekend. When we want some, I put some into a smaller pot, add meats and tofu, and thicken slightly. Havin g kept it int he fridge for a few days, the spiciness and tang has intensified! Man! It was great! Did a stir-fry of julienne vegetables and beef served over shirataki noodles. Cannot comnpare the noodles to the usual chow mein noodles as these do NOT crisp up, but they are 0 carbs.

C. sapidus aka Bruce: What! You "messed up" the eternal cucumber?!!! Thighs look great. Think I'll salt some this weekend for Chinese salty chicken and make a bunch for lunches next week. Might even feed my students. This term, I have 3 students from Brazil, so will be looking for some Brazilian dishes to cook up. Picked up black beans today. Is that a good start? dcarch: I'm definitely going to try that embossed tofu!

Liuzhou: The ducks look different from the ones I buy at the Chinese supermarket here in Canada. So, these are smoked as opposed to cured with seasoning, wine, etc then wind-dried as with lap cheong? When we first arrived in a rural Manitoba village (1958), we couldn't buy lap cheong and lap gnap unless they were shipped from Vancouver. So, my Mom made these for our family. I can still see the meats hanging in our screened porch.

Looks like Kerry Beal has got us all running for Zuni Cafe chicken. Happy to have chimed in with my effort! Even happier to have eaten it. The flavour reminds me a lot of the Chinese yeem gok gai - salted roast chicken. The difference is the addition of 5-spice powder to the salt. The drying process will definitely be used to achieve that crispy skin on my next yeem gok gai! AND, Soba, I love beet greens. Will have to make use of your crostini next time I have greens on hand.

Here's one that I make quite often in the fall and winter. The contents have been taken out of my sandpot: Bone-in chicken, rehydrated Chinese mushrooms, deep fried tofu, lap cheong, baby bok choy (Chinese cabbage or savoy would be just as good), and fun see or rice noodles. The noodles are usually on the bottom and absolutely delicious soaked with the sauce! Waterchestnuts, bamboo shoots would also be a good addition to this. If I know huiray after seeing all his posts, he would put ALL of the ABOVE in. AND, it wouold be delicious. I start this dish on the stove then finish in the oven. When I do salted fish rice or lap mai fan in the claypot, I can hardly wait until we get the fan jiu at the bottom!

After reading Kerry Beal's report on the chicken at Zuni Cafe, and seeing other posts on same, I decided it must be done! I followed the recipe recommended by Ranz in this thread. I prepped the chicken Saturday with sage and thyme under the skin then salted and peppered the skin liberally. The chicken was nice and dry when I brought it out of the fridge Monday supper time. The oven was set at 475F and I cooked it according to the times recommended. OMG! It was a success! The skin was golden, crispy, especially the wing tips, which have always been my favourite part of the chicken. There were only about 2 tbsps. of fat in the bottom of my pan, but there was lots of "scrapings". This with a bit of chicken stock and what little juice came out of the chicken as it rested was all the "sauce" needed. The chicken was full of "roast chicken" flavour. The meat was tender and juicy. For a 3.5 lb chicken, it took just under an hour with 10 minute rest. We didn't have the bread salad as we ar5e cutting down on carbs, but the chicken was well accompanied by a medly of stir-fried vegetables. It was REALLY hard to NOT eat the crispy skin!.

White Chicken Chili from America Test Kitchen. Cutting down on carbs, so I picked out the cannellini beans - actually white kidney beans as I couldn't find cannellini). To help "thicken", I added steamed grated cauliflower. I did add a spoonful of 0% Greek yogurt. The Poblano, Anaheim, and Jalapeno peppers added a nice bit of heat that lingered. It was really good and I'd make it again.