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Some do, some don't. I have eaten this dish both ways. I think I like the version without cornstarch. I might experiment with the other version next time.

I thought of deep-frying the garlic first too. (I thought I would try the regular way first.) That might just be the ticket! I will try that next time. But one thing with deep-frying the garlic is that the flavor tend to get absorbed in the oil. We'll see...

Not really. I know... you are thinking that's what we will be eating... Well, in the restaurants I have never seen a deveined shrimp in this dish. One issue is if you cut open the shell to devein, the shell will fall off when you deep-fry the shrimp because the intense heat will make the shell curl up.

From the past week of cooking... a Wok rules! - provided if you have an adequate heat source...

Ha ha ha... welcome to the confusing world of different Chinese regional volcabularies. "ya cai" to a Cantonese (though spoken in Mandarin dialect) is bean sprout. "ya cai" to Sichuanese is the Sichuan pickled vegetable, which Cantonese call "zha choy" [Cantonese]. Yes they will give you the same response even if you produce the Chinese words. Unless you can give them a picture... I have one pictorial recipe on bok choy: Bok Choy with Garlic (蒜容白菜) This recipe is so general that you can use it on most Chinese vegetables. As for napa cabbage, this recipe: Hairy Melon Stir-fried with Mung Bean Threads (蝦米粉絲炒毛瓜) Would work too. Just substitute the hairy melon with napp cabbage (cut 2-inch in length). It tastes really good.

#60, Salt and Pepper Shrimp (椒鹽蝦)

Pictorial Recipe Salt and Pepper Shrimp (椒鹽蝦) The famous Cantonese "Salt and Pepper Shrimp" is actually quite easy to make. But to make it like the restaurant style requires a high-power wok burner. The home version may not be as crispy, but tasty just the same. Picture of the finished dish: Serving Suggestion: 2 to 3 Preparations: Main ingredients (from upper-right, clockwise): - 1 1/4 lb fresh shrimp with head and shell - 1 chili pepper (e.g. jalapeno pepper) - 5-6 cloves of garlic - 2 stalks of green onions - a few cilantro (for garnishing) Use a pair of kitchen sears, trim off the sharp horn and fillers from the shrimp. They are annoying to deal with at the dinner table. Rinse to clean the bodies of the shrimp well under running water. Place on a strainer to drain off the excess water well (perhaps leave for 30 minutes before cooking). (Not shown): Trim, peel and mince 5-6 clove of garlic. Trim and cut the jalapeno pepper into thin slices. Trim and finely chop 2 stalks of green onions. Cooking Instructions: Use a wok, set stove at high temperature. Add about 4 cups of frying oil and preheat for about 10 minutes or so (if you have a high-power burner it may not take as long) until the oil is hot enough for frying. You can tell by the slight smoke from the oil and that the oil start whirling. Add the shrimp and deep-fry for a minute. The idea is to use intense heat to cook the seafood very quickly. If you have a high-power wok burner, the shrimp shell should turn very crispy. After a minute, the shrimp looks bright orange and the legs look crispy. Scoop up the shrimp and drain the hot oil using a colander. Drain the frying oil from the wok. Continue with high heat setting on the stove. Add 2-3 tblsp of cooking oil. Wait until oil start fuming. Add minced garlic, sliced chili pepper and chopped green onions. Add 1 tsp of salt (or to taste). [Note: typically more salt is added in cooking this dish.] Stir-fry for about a minute. If you have a high-power burner, the minced garlic would turn crispy like the restaurant version. Returned the shrimp. Stir and toss for another minute until the ingredients are evenly coated on the shrimp. Finished. Transfer shrimp to a serving plate. Voila! Serve immediately. Many Chinese eat the heads and shells with this Salt and Pepper Shrimp. The only question is: would you too?

Sure. But bear in mind you will be probably paying 10 times the prices as what you would pay in the best restaurants in Sichuan.

To add fuel to the confusion... In Cantonese we call Mandarin's "xiao baicai" (小白菜) as da baicai (大白菜). And what Cantonese called "xiao baicai" (小白菜) is the Taiwanese bok choy (青梗菜). Googled images of 青梗菜

Ah! Da (Large) versus Xiao (small). Both are "bai cai" (white vegetable). Interesting!

More sign that my stove burner is not hot enough for wok cooking... After burning the wok for 4-5 minutes at the "high" setting, I can still use my bare hand to touch the rim of the wok and it is just luke warm. Somehow having a 16-inch carbon steel wok with a wok ring and the regular gas stove is not an ideal combination. I look forward to getting a higher power gas burner.

Thank you for the Chinese words and the picture, liuzhou. As I suspected, there is a little "lost in translation" between Cantonese and other Chinese dialects. What was shown in the picture is what's generally known as "napa cabbage" in the USA. In Cantonese that is called "Wong Nga Bak" or "Siu Choy". In Cantonese, bok choy is a different vegetable: Pictures of bok choy Pictures of napa cabbage Napa cabbage is bai cai in other parts of China.

I am sorry. I think I might have been confused myself. Bai cai = bok choy (the Cantonese name for the vegetable that has white stalk and green leaves) is only one possibility, from a literal translation point of view. But when I re-read the original post, it doesn't seem that's what was being sought for. Cantonese bok choy is not cabbage. And I have not seen it used in pickles. Without seeing the Chinese words or pictures, I could not determine what La bai cai is. And... Napa cabbage is not the same as bok choy.

Bai cai is the Mandarin pronounciation of bok choy, which is in Cantonese. So, they are the same thing. The name bok choy stuck I believe it's because it was introduced to the USA by the early Chinese immigrants who were primarily Toisanese (Toisan is within the Cantonese province).

I forgot to mention: When I used my new wok to cook for the first time, the steel spatula made some scratch marks on the nice seasoned surface. I did not anticipated that the coat of oil seasoning would be so easy to scratch off. I tried using the steel spatula as carefully as I could since. But I don't want to resolve to using plastic spatulas. I just hate those plastic things...

I have been to Yuet Lee (Broadway + Stockton) a few times. But that was over 20 years ago. They were good. However, I don't know what they have become since I don't live in the area. I just observed everytime I walked by that they seemed to attract more non-Asian tourists then locals, which to me seemed a bad sign. If I eat in Chinese Town SF, which is rare these days, I would go to Hing Lung Restaurant - half a block from Yuet Lee along Broadway. Sorry for getting off the Korean food track.

Using the wok without the ring is out of the question. The wok wobbles back and forth - very unsafe. I did use medium/low setting on the stove burner throughout frying the fish, from start to finish. I will try to lower the fish slowly next time - maybe hard to do.

As a matter of habit I pre-heat my wok/pan for 3-4 minutes before I start cooking. If the wok is not hot enough, it won't get any hotter from my stove burner. And for the "Salt and Pepper Shrimp", I heated up about 4 cups of frying oil for 10-15 minutes (can't remember the exact time). But the stove burner could not seem to be able to keep the oil extremely hot. You can tell the different in the crunchy-ness of the shrimp shells.

I was skeptical at first too. (And you need to know about my upbringing and taste buds for authenticity in Chinese food. ) While I cannot tell the authenticity of the "Nanking" style in this restaurant, I do find their entrees interesting and I like them. (I went back for a second time and tried something else - Nanking Fish and Shrimp cake (appetizer) - both good... plus the repeat of Nanking Chicken.) My review post and some pictures here on House of Nanking: SF: House of Nanking, Specialties: S&S chicken, dumpli And I agree that in general I do not think much about most Chinese restaurants in Chinatown SF. Some of them flat out scared me.

One reason is using the Tane Chan's method, it calls for baking the wok in the oven (after smearing lard/oil on the wok surface) upside down.

I finally cooked my first dish with my brand new seasoned wok! Not a flounder that I was hoping for. They were nowhere to be found. Perhaps they are not in season? I ended up getting a farm-raised bass. Very tasty nonetheless. My first time cooking with a wok for over 20 years! One question: Has anybody used a wok to fry fish? Mine just stuck to the wok surface. I am not sure if that is an indication that my wok has not been seasoned "enough", or that is just "the nature of the beast" with frying a fish. I also had made a "Salt and Pepper Shrimp" with the new wok, a wok ring and my regular gas stove. It was tasty alright, but the shrimp shells are not as crispy as those made in the restaurant. I think my regular gas stove burner is just not adequate for "real" wok cooking. I look forward to getting a high power burner next.

I found that with dried conpoy: should soak it overnight, and braise it with low heat for about an hour. I think that with steaming, the heat is intense and may toughen the conpoy, especially if the soaking time is short.

Please mail order a wok burner like the one infernooo has to my home address. I have sent you my address in e-mail.

I easily located a pack of Sichuan peppercorn today (the label read "dried peppercorn" but you can tell from the look of the peppercorn). They have bright red color, and look just like those in the picture. US$1.75 for 4 oz. I did a side-by-side taste test between my old Sichuan peppercorn and the new one. The difference is night and day! Chewing some of the old ones, didn't feel much. Chewing some of the new ones... Phewwww! The dominating numbing taste rushed to the top of the tongue! My tongue muscles are still jumping as I type. Powerful stuff! Said goodbye to my jar of old peppercorn. Not worth keeping...

I know... when in Rome, eat Chinese food!!! That's safer! Thanks for the little "long" story. Just some'm to cheer up the day.