Dejah

The daughter and her friend finally made it to Kam Ho after being frequent customers of Victoria Seafood. They really liked the Chinese cruellers wrapped in the sheet of "rice noodle" - don't know the exact name. Otherwise, they were disappointed as everything tasted strongly of and covered with canola oil - even the bamoo baskets. Has your Mom ever experienced that, Rona? Our sons were in Wpg this weekend, and they were introduced to Victoria Seafood by the daughter. I'll have to get a full report later.

Yes, you read the topic description correctly! This is going to be a week's undertaking with hopefully a crew of a dozen or more. This all began with the major influx of Chinese permit workers sponsored by Maple Leaf hog processing plant. To help them adjust to Canadian life, my brother and I were asked to form the WestMan Chinese Association. Then, one thing led to another! On January 31, Feb 1st. and 2nd, our city is holding it's 5th WinterFest with 13 countries hosting pavilions. This is the very first time for a Chinese pavilion as we now have enough volunteers! Six of the workers were chefs in China, and we've had several opportunities to taste their skills. Each pavilion will feature food and entertainment. Our menu is pork, pork and more pork: siu mai, jiaozi, char siu, and a sweet'n'sour pork (with red dates and chili peppers - a new one for me). As all of these newcomers are Maple Leaf employees, we requested a donation-in-kind from MP. We thought we would need 60 casesx 20 lbs = 1200 lbs of boneless pork butte, and whatever they would donate would be great, and we'd buy the rest at wholesale. Maple Leaf decided to donate ALL 60 cases, and each case = 20 KG! So, Happy Happy Joy Joy! A local meat processor/abattoir (a supplier from my restaurant days) has offered to grind 600 lbs for us - free! We have a vacant bakery at our venue (a downtown mall) for prep: walk-in coolers, walk-in freezers, huge work table, 2 commercial Hobart mixers. The Chinese fast food outlet has offered the use of their kitchen as normally after 6 pm, they are closed. We will have a 4 burner gas stove, 3 woks, and 2 deep fryers. In conversation with other pavilion organizers, we can anticipate an average of 1000 meals each of three days. Last year was the first time for the English pavilion and they had over 5000 visitors - altho' not everyone ate. Our $8.00 platter will include 3 siu mai, 3 jiaozi, Cantonese lo-mein, s'n's pork, char siu, and noodle cake for dessert. Otherwise, each "item" will be $2.00 (eg. 3 siu mai). There will be Tsingtao and Yanjing beer as well as a red wine called Great Wall - quite a nice red. Our entertainment includes amazing vocal stylings(Chinese opera, pop, folk), tai-chi, traditional dances, acrobats from China, weaponery, lion dancers, traditional instrumentalists, magic face-changing, etc. etc. It's been a busy two months of meetings, bookings, organizing, and chasing down people. It's much like restaurant logics, but at least it's short term! Spring Festival follows on the heel of this event. This is usually hosted by the university's Chinese students association. It's popularity has grown tremendously (from just students to 500 guests last year!), and will be especially busy this year because it will be a first time away from home for many of the newcomers. Because it is so close to WinterFest, it was postponed until Feb. 23. The students are particiapting in the community event, so we will help them. This is really the first time for full participation of all the Chinese community: Cantonese, Toisanese, Mandarin speakers. It's an exciting endeavour! For more details: www.westmanchinese.com

To add another Asian element to your menu, maybe you can serve gamachi (? sp)tea - Japanese green tea with roasted barley. I love the light roasted flavour and it seems to compliment any cuisine. I keep a thermos of this on my counter every day, and even after several hours, it's still enjoyable.

I like to saute minced garlic, sliced onion, grated ginger in some oil for about five minutes. Then add finely chopped chili peppers, sliced fresh lemongrass and lime zest and saute for another couple minutes. Add 3/4 cup of white wine and cleaned mussels, cover and steam until mussels open. Remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste, then add either chopped cilantro or as I do, whole Thai basil leaves. I like this with baguette or crusty rolls to soak up the sauce.

Finally got my hands on Thai basil, so tonight we had curry shrimp with basil. I got the gist of a recipe from google, and I can't find it again! However, I cooked 1/2 can coconut milk until a little fat rose to the top. Added a tsp pf Mae Ploy red curry paste and fried that for acouple of minutes. Once well blended, I add the remainder of the coconut milk plus 1/3 cup of water, 1 tbsp brown sugar, and grated zest of one lime. This was left on med-low heat to reduce and thicken before I added a pound of shrimp and 1/2 cup finely sliced basil leaves. Once done, I served it over steamed jasmin rice. It was wonderful and quick!

Hubby had the Peking Duck pizza in Tarzana, CA while there for research. He liked it alot. Unfortunately, he can't remember details like I would!

I'm with Chris on your comment. I have lots of fun buying good ingredients and preparing them with care and skill, and I still use MSG. This ingredient is not meant to replace quality, care, and skill; it is meant to enhance flavour.

closer...anything below the knee/elbow but not feet/trotters.

I think lapcheung and dong goo would be wonderful on pizza, as with BBQ duck or char siu. Not too sure about bitter melon.

Good question! I have a jar in my spice cupboard that I can't recall buying. I made meatloaf last night and now I'm thinking the MSG would have added that little bit of something extra to make it taste even better. edited to add: Is MSG always something to cook with? Has anyone sprinkled it on after plating? Or does it's umami effect only take place when cooked? ← As to whether MSG loses its potency, I don't think so. It's not like herbs. MSG should not be added after plating! It must be mixed in and cooked with the food before plating. It is meant to enhance and not upfront flavour. MSG comes in different "sizes" - some look like tiny strands of crystal, and others may be fine powder form. It's cheapest to buy in packets from Asian stores. Accent used to come in small shakers and they were very expensive!

I use MSG in everything savory... a pinch and it enhances the flavour. For stir-fries, I add salt to my wok when the oil is hot, but MSG always 3/4 way through the cooking process. With meat that requires other cooking methods, I work a little MSG in with the salt or whatever other seasoning I would use during prep. Soups, I add a little MSG when I taste it just before serving - just as I would taste for salt. I grew up eating food with MSG all my life and cook with it as my parents have done. I always thought it was a must in Chinese cooking. It was a surprise to me when my Chinese students all say, " It's not good for you! My family never uses it." Really?!

Rona, If you're planning to make joongzi (sticky rice in bamboo leaves), salt the fat! I cover the pork with kosher or pickling salt, leave it on the counter for 3 days, then rinse off. The pork will be firm to the touch and greyish coloured. If you're using it right away, then cut it into pieces the size of your middle finger and add to the rice packets with the rest of the ingredients you're using. Once boiled, some of the fatty yumminess melts into the rice. Must have that fatty pork for the best joongzi. If you're making lotus leave joongzi, cut the pork into smaller pieces and cook them with the sticky rice. Then add the rest of the ingredients before wrapping. If you don't have time to make joongzi now, freeze the salted pork for later use.

I think "zhu zhang" sounds like pork knuckle. ← I know Mom talks about using "zhu zhang" in making soup, and I think it's the knee or elbow part of the pig, and not the knuckle. Dried scallops too! Ho teem lah!

I made this last weekend and tried to replicate the crispy one shown in Fat's Guy's post. Unfortunately, my camera is screwed up at the moment so no pictures. I marinated the lamb slices in salt, and lots of ground cumin for most of the day. To coat the slices, I worked in an egg, a little flour/cornstarch mix. Then the slices were coated with fine crumbs and deep fried in veg oil. The green onion and sliced fresh chili peppers were sauteed in hot oil, then I tossed in the meat. The meat was tender and delicious, but I was hoping for a stronger lamb and cumin flavour. Next time, I might add whole cumin to the crumbs. Would that work? Perhaps I'll make a light vinegry/cumin sauce for a final toss with the meat as I do with ginger beef... I want more cumin flavour!

Orangeblossom: What a lovely name! CFT is correct in suggesting bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). I would suggest soaking the stomach in a baking soda solution. If you purchase the stomach from a reputable source, they are usually pretty clean. The soaking will remove any odour that remains. I would also suggest a quick blanch after you rinse off the soda solution before actually making the soup. To be honest, I've never made just pig stomach with white pepper soup. I've always added slices to foo juk tong. Can you explain the white pepper soup more? Someone else mentioned it being their favourite. I just add a small piece of ham choi to the soup. I do it because my Mom does it. She says it adds flavour. The ham choi is rinsed before hand so it's not that salty. I also add ham choi to melon soups, but only in the last few minutes before the soup is cooked. Otherwise, it causes the soup to have a slight sour taste. I know what you mean about "a handful of soups". I remember my Mom making many different kinds, different ones for different seasons and needs. I only make a few favourites. I was hoping that more people would share here their recipes/methods here so I can be motivated to try more variety. With my schedule, I seldom make lo-for soups. My s-i-l does more of that, especially during hunting season when she has access to fresh venison, game birds with herbs. I need to go to a store and find out English names of some of these ingredients.

I used silkened chicken and Spanish onion in light oyster sauce for my potstickers. This offered a different meat and flavour from the other items we offered as a lunch combination platter: siu mai, char siu bao, sticky rice, har gow.

I am sure, if the chicken is to be served cold, that they must keep it refridgerated for health-safety reasons. Chicken cooked Chinese style tends to be "just cooked". If this dish is on the regular menu, the restaurant must prepare several in anticipation. These must be refridgerated, or as with BBQ chickens sold in places such as Safeway, kept under heat lamps at a specific temperature. There was one incident of food poisoning that I remember well. Many salty chickens were purchased from a Chinese BBQ shop in Winnipeg for an elderly lady's 80th bday. The city is 2.5 hours from Brandon where I live. We were invited to the early sitting. All of the guests ate chicken from the same purchase and were fine. The second sitting was 2 hours later, for guests who had to work late. The remaining chickens were kept on a counter in the kitchen where the room temperature was neither high enough or cool enough to prevent bacterial growth. Several guests experienced major food poisoning and spent days in the hospital. The hospital, by law, had to report these incidents. The health inspectors were called in and there was a major investigation. Eventually, it was established that the chickens were fine at their source. It was the inappropriate storage handling at the destination that caused the major outbreak of food poisoning. In the past, would the item be offered in the same extent as they are in today's restaurants? Perhaps this dish would be prepared only for special occasions, cooled immediately and served as soon as possible.

The little boy eating the sweet off the stick, is that like a taffy? I seem to remember eating something like that years ago What other cuisine would have a dish called "pissing shrimp"! Thanks for letting me share in your feeding frenzy.

Thanks Dejah! Season the chicken - with just salt? With soy sauce? Wine? Would seasoning the chicken the night before be enough time? ← I would just season with salt, and a little MSG (optional) Kay: I've never used the first step you mentioned. What is the purpose of that? Would it be to "shrink the skin" so it doesn't burst with boiling? Would there still be enough heat in the water to cook the chicken when you put it back in the second time?

Tonight, we are finishing off the last of the large pot of lotus root (leen gnow)soup: My family prefers the kind that is more starchy and has "strings" when you bit into each piece. "Strings" is an appropriate descriptor as my family, who cannot speak Chinese call the roots as "fiddle bridges" . When you cut a round slice in half, they look like the bridges on a violin or fiddle. It's hard to tell which roots are more starchy - round-shaped or elongated-shape segments. Anyone have a way to tell the difference? For the soup, I use a chunk of pork butt with bone attached, at least 3 rehydrated dried octopus (bak jow yu), fresh ginger, and a piece of ham choi (salty turnip). I like using the kind of ham choi that comes with the leaves. Wash and soak the octopus the night before. Make the pork stock by simmering the meat and bone(s)for at least an hour. Add cut up octopus, ginger, ham choi, and sliced lotus roots. Bring the whole pot to a boil and then simmer until the lotus root is tender.

all of Ah Leung's and Canucklehead's pictures. Have you posted all of your pictures from the trip, Ah Leung?

No soy sauce? Interesting. ← Ah Leung, Ce'nedra did say it was for dessert, so soy sauce would not be appropriate.

Anna: You can make the chicken as you described in "boiling". The amount of "sitting time" depends on the size of the chicken. For a 3 pound one, probably an hour or so. I would add a stalk of green onion and some slices of fresh ginger to the water. You can also steam it by placing the chicken in a dish then steaming. It might be easier to do the "boil" method as you wouldn't have to monitor the water level in steaming. Just make sure you season the chicken well ahead of cooking time.

I can see with the breading and deep frying that crispy would be the ideal way with this dish. Liuzhou: From which of Fushia Dunlop's books is the recipe for cumin beef?

Good description. No, the honeycomb tripe I had didn't completely break down either, but it did become chewed enough for me to swallow. I don't think it's supposed to be like tendons, which will break down in your mouth.