liuzhou

Indeed, that is what gave rise to American-Chinese cuisine* in the first place. However, I just don't think that dry sherry is as close to Shaoxing as many writers seem to say. As for balsamic vinegar being a good substitute for Zhenjiang (Chinkiang in N. America) Vinegar, give me a break! *And British-Chinese etc.

That's pretty much what my butchers use for the major bones. Everything else is cleavered.

Absolutely. If I had to sub dry sherry for Shaoxing, I'd go bankrupt very quickly! I get through a bottle of cooking grade in two to three weeks.

I have a heavy duty cleaver for bones but still wouldn't attempt a pork shank bone. The local butchers don't either and their cleavers are heavier then mine. They saw them.

I've been waiting for the question, too! In my opinion, dry sherry is a poor substitute but can't think of a better one other than other Chinese cooking wines - 料酒 (liào jiǔ – literally, ‘ingredient wine’).

Mentioning 8-year old Huadiao when posting about dishes which use it reminded me that I was out of the stuff. So, all day a jar has been winging its way from Shaoxing to my kitchen! It arrived at my door about half an hour ago. Normal service can be resumed.

Talking of well done, here is a guide to ordering your steak to your preference, in China (Everyone knows we foreigners only ever eat steak!) Every restaurant selling steaks follows this table. 一分熟 (yī fēn shú) - One point done - Rare 三分熟 (sān fēn shú) - Three points done - Medium Rare 五分熟 (wǔ fēn shú) - Five points done - Medium 七分熟 (qī fēn shú) - Seven points done - Medium Well 全熟 (quán shú) - Cremated. Order the effing chicken instead! Using this will ensure that the kitchen knows what you want. What you want may well not be what you get, though. Note: China uses the American system of identifying beef cuts so Europeans etc. may flounder where the nomenclature is different.

Lunch (and Dinner probably). Stuffed myself at lunchtime. 一整跟大排骨 (小) (yī zhěng gēn dà pái gǔ) - literally 'one whole heel large bones (small)' - Grilled Pork Neck Bones with cumin and chilli powder. These were excellent. Very meaty and nicely spiced. 扬州炒饭 (yáng zhōu chǎo fàn) This was billed as being Yangzhou fried rice made with Wuchang rice, allegedly China's highest quality rice. It was neither. It was a boring fried vegetable rice that even included unadvertised c@rn!) 越南彩虹水晶卷 (yuè nán cǎi hóng shuǐ jīng juǎn) - literally 'Vietnam Rainbow Crystal Rolls' - Gỏi Cuốn Spring Rolls containing mango, fake crab (surimi), shrimp, vegetables and herbs. With spicy dipping sauce. Actually quite good. I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get the advertised lovely companion to eat with! Not at all sure I'll need dinner. The pork filled me up!

Yes, it is sometimes done with pickled veg here too, but not this time.

It was just steamed and mashed. Very simple.

I didn't really have a question about minority foods. My question was about which are discussed in the book. Now I know. But thanks.

I did search before I asked but I guess we all know how flawed the search is. It returned nothing.

Wow! Thanks, but I now have the information I needed. I didn't realise more than one person here would have the book, never mind a signed copy.

Most dishes containing Shaoxing wine only have about a tablespoon of the wine in a marinade, or even just a splash to deglaze the wok and add a bit of flavour. However there are two classes of dish which use much larger quantities of the wine - up to 2½ cups or 250 ml per serving. These are the "drunken" dishes and the "hong shao" dishes. Often said to be of Shanghai cuisine they are certainly popular there, but also in a wider area. What they have in common is Shaoxing wine. These are examples of when you really need to splash out on a good 5 year minimum huadiao wine to do justice to the dish. I use an 8-year old. Your cheap every day Shaoxing isn't going to work well. The classic "drunken" dish is "drunken chicken" or 醉鸡 (zuì jī), a cold appetizer. However, there are almost endless variations such as drunken fish, drunken shrimp, drunken tofu etc. The drunken chicken is simply cooked in boiling Shaoxing wine for a few minutes, then the heat is turned off and the bird left in the hot liquid until cooked through. There are many recipes on the internet, but I can't really recommend any that I have read. I suggest Fuchsia Dunlop's recipe in Land of Fish and Rice (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is your best bet. Drunken Chicken The second group are 红烧 (hóng shāo), literally red-cooked. Again pretty much everything can be red-cooked, which means simmering in a stock coloured with soy sauce. The peak of inventiveness in this group is 东坡肉 (dōng pō ròu) from Hangzhou near Shaoxing. 2 inch cubes of fatty pork belly with skin are fried, then red cooked for about 2½ hours in a mixture of soy sauces and a copious amount of quality Shaoxing wine. The resulting dish is rich and unctious. This dish is best made the day before eating and left overnight to chill. Remove the fat on top of the chilled meat. Again I recommend Ms. Dunlop's book rather than the internet. Dongpo Pork There are other dishes using Shaoxing in large amounts, but these are the two classics.

No. There was nothing pickled in the dish.

This one was a set meal. They aren't all. The green beans were fresh; not pickled. Chinese yam is dfferent from what you may call yam. Chinese Yam

There is a great article here on the history of the Nu Er Hong brand, now owned by China Shaoxing Yellow Rice Wine Group Co., Ltd and the one man who made it all possible.

香菜拌牛肉 (xiāng cài bàn ) - Coriander* Beef 肉末四李 (niú ròu) - Minced Pork Green Beans 娃娃采 - (wá wa cài) Baby Cabbage 淮山骨头汤 (huái shān gǔ tou tāng) - Chinese Yam Bone Soup 米饭 - Rice

Yes, the first is Pagoda brand. I can't entirely make out the writing at the bottom, but it appears just to be the company information. They make a point of stating that it is 'hand made' (the first two characters reading down) which is typical of that company. A good drinking quality Shaoxing. Your jade coloured jar is typical of nu'erhong style. Does it give the age anywhere? It is made by my favourite Shaoxing supplier (all nu'erhong is), Gu Yue Long Shan. There is an introduction to the company here.

So once you've sorted out your Shaoxing according to taste or budget what do you do with it. I use it in almost every meal I cook. A tablespoon or so (I always eyeball it) in marinades is de rigeur. I always use it to deglaze the wok. And sometimes in dips. It is also used in larger quantities in certain dishes, a subject I shall return to.

I am confused ( as usual). Methi just means 'fenugreek'. Do you mean the seeds?

Your second one is the real deal - ‘daughter red’ . Does it give any indication of age anywhere? As in my second post? I'm not surprised you have the same brand as @liamsaunt. They are Shaoxing's largest company and also most active in exports. About 15% of their output is exported. The less said about the Taiwanese fake, the better. It may taste OK, but it ain't the real deal.

According to Wikinonsense I have never, ever seen a bottle of Shaoxing with a vintage year marked as with grape wines. They all simply give the fermentation times as listed in my second post above. Also Shaoxing wine is one type of 黄酒 (huáng jiǔ). 黄酒 and Shaoxing are not synonyms as implied. All in all, the wiki article is pretty piss-poor.

If desperation sets in you could try this. 56% by volume 白酒 (bái jiǔ). Smells like vomit before you drink it. Only about 2 cents a small bottle. Appropriately named. Stick to Shaoxing, once you track it down. It's the only Chinese drink I touch other than beer. By the way, I mentioned 加饭 (jiā fàn, meaning added rice) in the first post. That first character 加 (jiā) is also an abbreviation for Canada! The things you learn on eG!

That is not wine, but a very strong spirit / liquor. China's most famous, served at state banquets. Disgusting stuff. There is a huge translation problem with the Chinese character 酒 (jiǔ). It really means alcohol, but is often mistranslated as wine, although sometimes wine is correct! I do a lot of work with the wine and drinks press and we always tie ourselves in knots trying to translate some names. The Moutai in that picture is a type of 白酒 (bái jiǔ), and is a strong white liquor from Guizhou province, made from sorgum but often described as 'white wine'. You don't want to be putting that in your dinner! And, yes, 白酒 (bái jiǔ) can get very expensive, although the cheapest is almost free. I have one bottle which sells at $2,306 CAD, although it is a limited edition and contains 1.8 litres. No, I didn't buy it. It was a gift from a client. I can't stand the stuff! The earlier picture you posted is rice wine but I have no knowledge of the quality. Even beer is a 酒 (jiǔ) - 啤酒 (pí jiǔ) and grape wine is 葡萄酒 (pú tao jiǔ), literally grape alcohol. There are many more. It's enough to drive anyone to drink!