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hzrt8w

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Everything posted by hzrt8w

  1. Yes, the character "lo" [Cantonese] indeed means "to mix together".
  2. Tenderloin may be a bit too lean. This recipe (simmering for 3 hours) is good for a cut with tendons (which otherwise would be very tough and chewy if not for long simmer). Perhaps you can try it and let us know...
  3. "Lo Mein"! Ah... Thanks for bringing up another confusing terminology besides the bean sauce! The "Lo Mein" in Hong Kong is the boiled egg noodles with oyster sauce poured on top, served with a small bowl of wonton broth on the side. The "Lo Mein" as Hong Kongers know it do not exist in the US Chinese restaurants, except in those who cater to Hong Kongers. The "Lo Mein" offered in the American-Chinese restaurants refer to what's closest to "Soy Sauce Chow Mein" in Hong Kong. The "Chow Mein" as Hong Kongers know it is called "Pan-Fried Noodles", or "Leung Mein Wong" (Two Sides Yellow) in the US Chinese restaurants. The "Chow Mein" offered in some American-Chinese restaurants refer to what's... well, there is not quite an equivalent in Hong Kong or China. How do you describe a dish of "stir-fried meat with vegetables" with broken deep-fried thick wheat noodles laid on the top? We just don't have such a dish.
  4. Ask your butcher to leave the beef shank alone. Sell the whole piece to you. We cannot cook sliced beef shanks using this recipe. Must be whole. Substitute? I had eaten some Jiang4 Niou2 Rou4 [Mandarin] 醬牛肉 (braised beef with soy and five spice) in Shenyang many years ago. It wasn't beef shank but a different cut. Maybe you can try with a different cut too. Same process. This dish is mostly served as an appertizer (cold) before the main course. Tonight my dinner was Steamed Spareribs with Plum Sauce. Lotus Roots with Black Mushrooms and Dry Conpoy. And, of course, the Ginseng Chicken Soup! Interested? [next3]
  5. I have illustrated my interpretation of this popular dish: Beef Shank Braised with Five Spice and Soy Sauce (五香牛腱)
  6. That's one very senior, seasoned "dude". ----- So an "egg" is the opposite of a "banana" per that website.
  7. When one rates restaurants in the "top 5", it is very important to state the criteria of the rating. What are we looking at? The most successful restaurants, drawing in the best earning, are not necessarily the "best" restaurants in a culinary sense. The fast food industry cited was a perfect example. Even when we look at the ranking other than business revenues, there could be "best in food tastes", "best in food presentations", "best in service", "best in dining environment", "best in value", etc.. Rankings are, of course, subjective. Restaurants are the mercy of the judges. If there is no official ranking in place, you and I - the patrons - are the judges. We all have our person ranking on restaurants, Chinese or other types. I think it would be extremely rare to find someone who has been to most parts of the USA to come up with a comprehensive ranking for the top 5 Chinese restaurants in the "USA". Meanwhile, you have your top 5 in your world and I have mine in my little world. And to me, I always look at "value". The "best bang for your bucks". I know if I spend US$100 per person for dinner, I can probably have some decent experiences (but not a guarantee). But what I look for, typically, is to spend in the medium price range: US $7 to $20 per Chinese food entree depending on areas and types of food ordered, and get the most tasty dishes. As with many Chinese diners, I pay much less attention to the dining room atmosphere or decoration. On Clement Street in San Francisco, there are some small Chinese restaurants offering US $5.00 an entree which are incredibly tasty. To me, those would be the candidates for my top 5 restaurants (in value).
  8. #20, Beef Shank Braised with Five Spice and Soy Sauce (五香牛腱)
  9. Beef Shank Braised with Five Spice and Soy Sauce (五香牛腱) mudbug: This pictorial is for you. Have you ever tried the sliced beef shank served as one of the cold-appertizers in a Chinese banquet? The strong flavor of five spice and soy sauce is unmistakable. They are easier to make at home than you might think. Beef shank is usually eaten as appertizers or snacks. Serving suggestion: 5 to 6 (as appertizer) Use one piece of beef shank, about 2 lb. Rinse and clean. Boil half a pot of water. Add beef shank and boil it for about 5 minutes. Flip a few times. Remove from pot. Rinse under cold water to cleanse it a little bit. Drain. Prepare the braising liquid. I used the ready-made "Chinese Marinade" Lo Shui [Cantonese] 滷水 by Lee Kum Kee. It is a pre-mixed soy sauce based liquid with five spices added. If you don't have Chinese Marinade, simply substitute its portion with dark soy sauce. Besides Chinese Marinade, I used dark soy sauce, and added the following spices (clockwise from the bottle of dark soy sauce): 3 small pieces of chan pei [Cantonese] (dried mandarin peels), 1 stick of cinnamon, about 1 tsp of coriander, about 6 to 7 star anises, and 2 tsp of sichuan peppercorn. I would have also used 2 tsp of cloves but I ran out of them. Use a pot big enough to hold the beef shank, add 1/2 cup of Chinese Marinade, 1/2 cup of dark soy sauce, 2 cups of water, add all the spices listed above, add 3 tsp of Shao Hsing cooking wine, 2 pieces of medium-size rock sugar, and ginger slices (about 1 inch in length). Boil the braising solution for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the beef shank to the pot. Wait until the braising liquid comes to a boil again with the beef shank. Boil for about 5 minutes. Reduce the stove setting to a simmer. Simmer for 3 hours. Turn the beef shank about every 30 minutes. This is how the beef shank looked after 3 hours of simmering. Turn off the stove. Remove the beef shank and wait until it cools down to room temperature (or put it in the refrigerator for overnight storage). This is how the beef shank looked before slicing. Cut the beef shank into very thin (about 1/8 inch thick or thinner) slices. For presentation: lay the beef shank slices on the serving plate in a circular fashion. Put all the odd end pieces in the center. Drizzle about 2 tsp of sesame oil on top. Read to serve. The finished dish. Note: You may save the braising liquid - filter and discard all the fat, spices and residue. Store the braising liquid in a plastic container in the freezer. You may start with this braising liquid next time. Just replenish with a small amount of Chinese Marinade, dark soy sauce, and water. Use the same amount of rock sugar, ginger and other spices.
  10. Thanks, I will give it a try. Sure, if I can find fish maw or shrimp roe. Fish maw - steamed chicken with fish maw in lotus leaves Shrimp roe - braised sea cucumber with shrimp roe The ginseng chicken soup is brewing in the sssslllloooowww cooker! And some yummy beef shank pics will be uploaded shortly! <---- that's a rolling tongue smiley
  11. I have difficulties shopping for some special ingredients for Chinese cooking. I would like to ask the board for some tips. I thought others may have difficulties finding certain ingredients too so feel free to ask in this thread. In general, you can find many grocery items and dry goods for cooking Chinese food in an Asian grocery market in the USA/Canada/etc.. If you live in an area populated with Chinese immigrants (e.g. Bay Area, Los Angeles), those grocery stores are very comprehensive. There are, however, some special items that you would not find in general Asian grocery markets. Examples: bird nest, dried oysters, dried conpoy, ginseng (maybe). In Hong Kong, these special items are carried in what is called hoi mei [Cantonese] (dry seafood) shops. There are plenty of these specialty shops along Stockton Street in San Francisco China Town. But in Sacramento where I live, they are far and between. And for some herbal types of ingredients, you may need to go to a Chinese herbal medicine shop to purchase. Recently, what I have been unable to find in my neighborhood Asian grocery markets are: 1) Dried shrimp roes (Har Gee [Cantonese]) - to be used to braise with sea cucumbers. 2) Dried fish maw (Yu To [Cantonese] - literally this is a fish's stomach. To be used to in a steamed dish with chicken. Has anybody purchased the above items for cooking? Where did you find them? In specialty stores or general Asian grocery stores (which section)?
  12. Thanks for the tip, danjou. The noodle package that I bought did not have the unpleasant kansui or ammonia smell fortunately. That's a very good point. Perhaps we should parboil the noodles first. But if we do that, the noodles would not be as crispy. A trade off.
  13. Yes, jo-mel. They are semi-dry, still soft, and usually are kept in the refrigerator section.
  14. That's a gorgeous looking cake, Tepee! So much detail on the dragon! How did you manage to paint it on the top of the cake? Wow! Always so creative! Re: Banana... I believe the nickname was to describe someone who is "yellow outside, white inside", which is usually applied to someone who is a Chinese descendant but grew up in USA/Canada/Europe/Australia.
  15. There are several variations to this steamed pork dish. You may use mui choy [Cantonese] (sweet preserved mustard greens), or other preserved vegetables mentioned in the other thread (Click Here). Just soak the preserved vegetables in water for about 20 minutes or so to wash off the over-saltiness, then mix them with the ground pork before steaming. Another variation uses reconstituted dried squid. Soak the dried squid in water overnight. Clean and drain. Cut the squid into some small strips (e.g. 1 inch by 1/4 inch) and mix them with the ground pork before steaming.
  16. #19, Steamed Ground Pork with Salted Fish (鹹魚蒸肉餅)
  17. Happy Birthday Irwin! Since you are an honorable Toisanese, and an expert in salted fish, this dish of "Steamed Ground Pork with Salted Fish" was made in your honor:
  18. Steamed Ground Pork with Salted Fish (鹹魚蒸肉餅) Irwin: You are an honorable Toisanese. This pictorial was produced in your honor for your Happy Birthday. Many people who live in Hong Kong and the vincinity of Guangzhou would know about this steamed pork dish. It is a comfort home-style cooking for many Cantonese. Serving suggestion: 2 Basic ingredients: 1 lb of ground pork (with a little bit of fat), some ginger, salted fish and some seasoning. I usually use salted fish immersed in oil. This time, I had chosen a refrigerated package of salted mackerel. The fish pieces looked very appealing. Marinate the ground pork: Use a mixing bowl. Add 1 lb of ground pork. Add 2 tsp of sesame oil, 2 tsp of light soy sauce, 2 tsp of Shao Hsing cooking wine, 2 tsp of corn starch, 1 tsp of ground white pepper and a pinch of salt (to taste - suggested 1/8 tsp). Shred about 1 inch of ginger. Add about 1/2 of the portion to the mixture. Mix all the ingredients. Set aside for about 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer the marinated ground pork to a steaming dish. Use a spatula to press the ground pork against the dish, spread the pork evenly on the dish. I used only 1/2 a piece of the salted fish in the package. The fish was a bit thick. I sliced it into 2 halves. Lay salted fish on top of the ground pork. Spread the remaining ginger on top. Steam this dish in the steamer for about 15 minutes. Finished dish. Sprinkle some fresh chopped green onions on top.
  19. Thanks for the wonderful recipe, Fengyi! Making classical recipe we may be, but I would adopt the modern technology (i.e. food processor) to save time: 30 to 1! Wow! When you eat jiaozi, do you just eat it without any broth? Also: what is the purpose behind the three "goes"? This is the first time I heard of this technique. Fascinating!
  20. Thanks! I want to try that. What other ingredients/sauces are used in cooking crab with beer?
  21. I just tasted some Chili Bean Sauce. It does taste like regular Brown Bean Sauce with chilies added. I suspect if you don't have it, just use Brown Bean Sauce + chilies. The mix could be a good substitute. Chili Bean Sauce is an indispensible sauce for cooking northern style Chinese food. It is used in cooking many different dishes. I think Dou Ban Jiang (Chili Bean Sauce) is too generic to favor a particular brand. I usually just pick whatever I see. It is not used as a condiment (too salty) so it probably won't matter much.
  22. Thank you for your compliment, Irwin! Is that what you do for a living? Bounty hunting? I wonder how much the reward would go up to? I might be easy to spot, too: I might be the only Chinese who cooks using a pan instead of a wok! I may need to move, fast!
  23. Russell: Some people do boil the noodles first, drain then pan-fry like you said. Especially true if the noodles are the dry types. But if the noodles are fresh enough (soft to the touch, kept in the refrigerator), they may not need to be par-boiled. Most Hong Kong chefs throw them directly to the hot oil bath. Cooking it this way at home, the main trick is to make sure all the noodles get browned (slightly crispy) - or else the noodles will taste "raw".
  24. Transparent: LOL! Sounds like you have been wanting to make this dish for a long time!
  25. You typically would want to use the yellow types. The red types (red fermented bean curd) are used in special dishes and are used less often. Whether you want to pick the plain kind or the ones with chilies is a personal preference. If you like hot and spicy food like me, pick the ones with chilies. If not, pick the plain ones. Glass jars or pottery jars would not make a difference in their tastes. But I suspect that the ones in the pottery jars are red fermented bean curds. The Chinese label for regular (yellow) type of fermented bean curds is: 腐乳 My favorite brands are "Mei Mei" and "Superb Food".
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