hzrt8w

Yuki: I have tried using some dried bean curd (sheets, "fu jook" [Cantonese]) in making congee. But it did not achieve the desired effect. The "fu jook" remained sheets floating on top instead of dissolving into the liquid "jook" - maybe because the temperature of the slow cooker is not hot enough? Maybe I need boil the "fu jook" first, half way dissolve it, before adding rice? I don't know. Yeah, MSG is a factor in restaurants' taste and home-made taste.

jo-mel: I believe Sichuan pickled vegetable (zha cai / 榨 菜 ) is a Northern Chinese style condiment. I have not seen it used in Cantonese congee in Hong Kong. I did have some when I travelled in Mainland China. In Northern China, e.g. Beijing, they call congee xi1 fan4 [Mandarin] (稀飯) which literally means "diluted rice". Theirs are more grainly - more like the Teochew congee - than Cantonese congee. As cited above, the Hong Kong style congee "toppings" are typically: - Fried wonton skin strips - Roasted peanuts (with red skins) with sprinkled salt - Sliced yau tieu [Mandarin] (deep-fried bread dough) - Chopped green onions - Thin ginger shreds

Irwin: Thanks so much for the compliment. Most of the saled pork I had, if memory serves me well, were in cubes. But I didn't have this congee too often when I was young. My favorite was ground beef (mixed with shredded deep-fried mung bean threads) and pork blood occassionally, and "shampan" too.

Those could be fried wonton skins. (Cut into narrow strips before frying)

Yeah. Raw garlic. That's great! Maybe use a blender to blend the fresh raw garlic in a little bit of oil? I have seen restaurants made it as a condiment.

Got it... the cut is beef shank - with some tendons attached.

#13, Congee (Jook) with Salted Pork and Thousand Year Eggs (皮蛋瘦肉粥)

Congee (Jook) with Salted Pork and Thousand Year Eggs (皮蛋瘦肉粥) Congees, or Jook in Cantonese, are day-to-day food in Hong Kong as breakfast, lunch or a mid-afternoon light snack. There are many ingredients you may choose from, ranging from pork, beef, fish filet to the more exotic "pork blood" and "chicken intestines". You may find congee in restaurants specialized in dim sum or Cantonese style cooking. Have you ever thought of making congee at home? It is really easy if you have a crockpot. The basic steps for making congee from rice grains are the same. This time, I made congee with salted pork and thousand year eggs (pei dan [Cantonese]). You may substitute them with different ingredients. The easiest way is to start making congee the night before. Then you can have congee in time for a late breakfast or brunch. Serving suggestion: 4-5 Start the night before. I used 1 lb of pork loin. Cut the pork into thick, roughly 1 inch by 1 inch cubes. Use a mid-size tupperware to hold the pork. Add about 1 cup of salt. Slightly bury the pork with salt. Don't worry, you will rinse off the salt the following day before using it for cooking. Seal the container and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Use a small size crockpot (slow cooker). Mine is about 3 quarts. Fill it with water to about 80% full. Set for "auto" (the crockpot will switch between high and low automatically). Use 2 small cups of rice (note the size of the measuring cups for rice cookers). Slightly rinced. Add to the crockpot. Close the lid. Leave it on overnight. Note: If you don't want to leave the crockpot on all night, or to speed up the process, set it at high and cook for 3 to 4 hours. The next morning, about 2 to 3 hours before serving: Take out the container from the refrigerator. Rince away the salt from the pork. Add the pork to the crockpot. Close the lid. Change the setting to "high". Let it cook for 2 to 3 hours. Prepare some gingers, about a 1/2 inch cut, shred it. Use 1 green onion, finely chopped. Use 2 thousand year eggs. Peel and use a small knife to cut into small wedges. Scoop up a bowl of congee with salted pork. Add the thousand year eggs, ginger shreds and green onions. Finished. Customery condiments: salt, light soy sauce and ground white pepper

Kris: Is this "kochujang" some kind of ready-made sauce? Can it be made with more basic sauces? Is that the name of the sauce?

mudbug: I don't think I have seen a spiral shape beef slices. Most of the beef slices we eat as cold cut appertizer during a Cantonese banquet are simply: Use a piece of ngau jeen [Cantonese]. I don't know the name of that cut in English. It's the equivalent of a "forearm" in cows. Use some water to boil the meat first for a few minutes. Then drain the beef and rinse it under cold water. Wash off the "blood mud". Use a pot, add lo shui [Cantonese] - Chinese Marinade, dark soy, some water, brown sugar, add more five spice - either powder or just star anise. Slowly simmer this mixture with the beef for at least 2 hours (maybe 3). Take it out. Cool it to room temperature, then thinly slice it. RE: cold pork. That's the pig's forearm also. In Chinese, it's call Yuen Tai [Cantonese]. I don't know how it's made. I will post if I run across anything. RE: Jellyfish Jellyfish are sun-dried then reconstituted. Nowadays they are usually sold in a refrigerated package, ready-to-serve. Just rinse the jellyfish with some cold water. (They are already pre-cut. If not, cut it to 1/8 inch strips). Add sesame oil, red vinegar and sprinkle some sesame on top. That's it.

Dejah: you don't want to know! Just that one of the two words means "fragrant". That's enough.

Cold meat appertizer? Do you mean something like roast pork and suckling pig? Haven't we seen this before? Jelly fish (aka rubberband)? Pork front leg? White boiled chicken? Drunken chicken? Braised beef slices? Lo Shui goose?

Dejah: After a visit to a local Asian grocer, I found that they labelled 黄鱼 ("yellow fish") as croaker. Perhaps the 3-tooth yellow fish is just a variety of the yellow fish. I found a site that has a good illustration of croaker: http://myfwc.com/marine/photo.htm Just click on the 5th link "Atlantic croaker", a JPG file will come up. I know that from a dried salted fish it may be difficult to tell... Does that illustration looks like the "mui hern" salted fish that you bought?

It's wonderful seeing you again spaghetttti! As always, those photos look great!

I was very interested in one of the pictures there at the fair. They roast many chickens using some metal pipes. At first I was thinking: no way... how can they get the chickens to turn? After taking a closer look, I discovered that they use a small pin to pin down the bird! (Probably like a screwed on pin or something) How clever! Simple and effective! And that's RM 11 for a whole roast chicken??? = US$3.00? Wow... awesome!

I do remember my father told me that there used to be no borders between Hong Kong and the neighborhood city Shenzhen. People who wished to come to Hong Kong (like he did) just took a train there, or walked over. The fences along the Shenzhen River were not set up until there was a hugh immigrant wave at one point (can't recall what the incident was or what year). The figure "four millions" was probably around the early 70's? It's very interesting isn't it? The early Chinese immigrants to SE Asia brought their Chinese cooking techniques. They created their own fusion food. And when such dishes are introduced in Hong Kong, they have to adjust back to the local (Chinese) taste... And add to that list are your Seattle, Portland, San Jose (South Bay) and Sacramento too!

Adding vinegar in stir-fried dishes amplifies the taste of your sauce. Vinegar or cooking wine is often added shortly after the aromatics (garlic, ginger, onion, scallion, etc.). If the wok/pan is hot enough, this act typically induce a big flame (desirable).

I am coming out! No, I don't mean it that way. After all, I have a wife and a happy marriage! I know, I know... I have a rather difficult-to-remember online moniker "hzrt8w". A few fellow eGulleters asked me if it stands for anything. It would be a great word puzzle, wouldn't it? Horse + Zebra Resemble Trojan Ate (8) Weeds. Truth be told now: "hzrt8w" has absolutely no particular meanings. It happened to be a computer login name I was assigned at a company I used to work for long time ago. It was company policy that required us to remember this meaningless, computer-randomly-generated sequences (gotta have a number in addition to letters, right?) by heart. After using it for a few years, even though I had long departed that company I could not cleanse it out of my brain. Many millions of my neurons had already been imprinted with these 6 alphanumeric characters. Since it is rather unique, I just use it to sign up for accounts every where I go on the Internet. So far I have not seen been rejected! So I went through the same routine when I registered on eGullet. Little did I know at the time, that this login name would also be used as my screen name. I would have chosen another one that's easier to remember otherwise, like "ChowMein" or something. To make it easier for fellow eGulleters to address me, I am providing my name in my signature block. I still, however, would like to maintain at least partial anonymity. So let me just my initials and my street salutation "Ah Leung". For those who are not familiar with the Cantonese language... the term "Ah" is not exactly a name. It is sort of a meaningless adjective serving the purpose of a place holder. When we say a person's name, it is as if a requirement that the name must have at least 2 characters. So how do we say a 2-character name if we only know that person's family name? We put a meaningless adjective "Ah" in front of it! Therefore, it is common to address a Mr. Wong as “Ah Wong” and a Mr. Lee as “Ah Lee” and so on. This is typically done to male names, although the same custom can also be applied to female names (e.g. Miss Wong as “Ah Wong”.) In Mandarin, the practice is pretty much the same – though they use the word xiao3 [Mandarin, meaning small or young] instead of “Ah”. “Xiao Liang” – my name in Mandarin. Actually there is another reason: I would like to use my family name as a way to pay tribute to my late father, now, in the 6th anniversary of his passing. He taught me how to cook when I was ten and got me interested in this culinary art. First it was just for survival when I went through high school, then it was for necessity when I went through college in the USA, and later it was for enjoyment through the rest of my life. My given names' initials (Chinese) are W.K.. Feel free to address me as WK or simply – preferable - "Ah Leung". Or, if you like, of course... continue on with "hzrt8w", "hzrt", or "hz". To stay with the food subject... I have to say... my all time favorite Chinese food is: Gon Chow Ngau Ho [Cantonese] - Stir-fried rice noodles with beef and soy sauce, dry style. (Gosh... the English translation takes so many more words!) BTW: I am getting close to my 1000 post! What’s my reward this time? Laksa? Another bowl of virtual laksa?

Diva Las Vegas: I am glad you like this recipe. As you can see from my pictures, I only use a frying pan to make Chinese food. I don't even own a wok. For explanations... see this post.

I am trying to match my cooking with those done in the restaurants. In the restaurants, they do make this dish labelled as 炒双冬. 炒 [chao3; Mandarin] means stir-fry 双 or 雙 [shuang1; Mandarin] means two, or double 冬 [dong1; Mandarin] means winter In this context, 冬 [dong1; Mandarin] "winter" is referring to: 1) 冬菇 - Black mushrooms 2) 冬筍 - Bamboo shoots Together, they form the "double winter" (双冬). I know, I know. Chinese menus are kind of cryptic sometimes. Or else there's no fun! Take a look at some of the Chinese banquet menus. They are notorious of being cryptic. It is fun trying to decipher them. Yeah, even for us.

You stole the French techniques to make Chinese food?!!

I think not quite on the "bottled condiments". But many different Chinese sauces are mixed from the basics. Some of these basic sauces you would not put on a dinner table as condiments (e.g. chili bean sauce, brown bean paste, cooking wine). You will see the following sauces used ijn Chinese cooking over and over again, perhaps in different proportions or added at a different stage during the cooking process: Dark soy sauce Light soy sauce Oyster sauce White and red vinegar Chili bean sauce Brown bean paste ShaoHsing cooking wine

It's funny that I used to work with some senior waiters in Chinese restaurants. Their English vocabulary was limited. When customers asked about some of the dishes in the menu, all they could say was "cooked with a brown sauce" (with oyster sauce) or "cooked with a white sauce" (without oyster sauce). LOL!

I know that in Chinese it is "三牙黄". I have found pages (in Chinese) with reference to it. But I don't know what it's called in English. Here is the only picture I could find on Google: 三牙黄 http://www.trongman.com.tw/abook/a192.HTM About 2 pages down, under the heading "石首魚科". Does anybody recognize this fish and know its name in English?

Stir-fried Snowpeas with Oyster Sauce (炒双冬) Have you ever been to Cantonese style Chinese restaurants where they offer stir-fried dishes in "a special brown sauce"? They don't quite elaborate what a "brown sauce" is. It's not a big mystery. A "brown sauce" is, typically, simply a mixture of chicken broth, oyster sauce (maybe), dark soy sauce with a little of sugar and corn starch. This flavoral dish is very easy to make, especially for beginners in Chinese cooking. Main ingredients. I bought some fresh snowpeas. (Sorry for the white-powder looking thing on them. It was just frost from the refrigerator.) Stir-frying only snowpeas is too boring. I typically use something else along with it. It's common to use reconstituted black mushrooms and bamboo shoots in the restaurants. You may use straw mushrooms, sliced carrots, sliced water chestnuts or other vegetables that you like. The main seasoning is from salt, garlic, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, [not shown] white vinegar, sugar, and a little bit of chicken broth. Use about 1 lb of snowpeas. Trim the ends and peel the edges (they are tough). Soak about 10 black mushrooms in warm water for about 2 hours. Drain and cut them up if they are too big. Mince about 3-4 cloves of garlic. Open one 16-oz can of bamboo shoot (sliced). In a small bowl, mix 2-3 tsp of oyster sauce, 2 tsp of dark soy sauce, 2 tsp of sugar, 2 tsp of corn starch. Then add about 1/4 cup of chicken broth and 1/4 cup of water. Mix the sauces together. Heat up a pan/wok over high heat. Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil. Wait until oil is very hot. Add minced garlic. Add a pinch of salt (to taste). Sautee for about 20 seconds. First add the black mushrooms. Cook for a minute or so until the fragrant is extracted from the black mushrooms. Dash in 1-2 tsp of white vinegar. Add the remaining vegetables: snowpeas and bamboo shoots in this case. Stir. Add the sauce mixture. Keep stirring. Put the lid on and cook for about 5-8 minutes. Snowpeas cook very quickly. Canned bamboo shoots and black mushrooms do require much cooking. Stir occassionally and check to adjust. Do not overcook the snowpeas. Since corn starch is already in the mixture, the sauce should thicken once boiled. The finised dish. Note: This dish can also be cooked with meats. BBQ pork slices is a popular choice. You may also use beef slices (just marinate with white ground pepper, sesame oil, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, ShaoHsing cooking wine and corn starch), or diced chicken breast (just marinate with white ground pepper, sesame oil, ShaoHsing cooking wine and corn starch). In either case, velvet the meats first until slightly under-cooked. Remove from pan. When the vegetables are 80% done, re-add the meats to stir-fry with the vegetables.