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Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but worths re-iterating in any case: The entire "Wei Chuan" series is great! Each book focuses on a different style or subject, written by different authors. All are illustrated with color, narrated with English/Chinese side by side. (I just wish they would provide some photos on the intermediate steps though). These recipes are produced and reviewed by Chinese. They are closer to the classical Chinese recipes than many cookbooks that I have seen in the USA. Not some "half way there", Ameriasian style recipes. No "flank steak slices on spaghetti dabbed with oyster sauce straight from the bottle" here. If one is serious about learning to cook Chinese food the Chinese way, this series is a great start. This is one of the books from the series: Chinese Cuisine: Szechwan Style With US$5.00 for a used copy, I think it's a great deal.

jschyun: Hi, LTNS! Did you imply that there are some decent Chinese restaurants at or around Eagle Rock? I would like to hear more and may try them next time when coming by.

Do you think it worths the price? How was the king crab prepared?

It is interesting. It is like that not only in Hong Kong, but in the USA, or in the rest of the world too. There are places that you can have dinner for well excess of US$100 per person. Yet out on the street near the restaurant, somewhere, one can dine for 5% of that price and have not necessarily a bad meal. For example, when I flew back to Hong Kong on my visits I didn't seek out for the most expensive shark fin soups (though I do like sitting at restaurants with great views). I was perfectly happy with having a small bowl of wonton soup, some beef tripes, a bowl of congee, a plate of cheung fun or even a simple egg sandwich - Hong Kong style anywhere on the street. I seek for great tastes, but typically not the rare or perceived high quality ingredients.

I think I can understand and appreciate the difference between a US$1.50 bottle of ShaoHsing cooking wine and a US$6.00 bottle one. And a $5.00 fish from a $20.00 fish. But when the price scale goes exponentially higher, I really don't comprehend: (1) why the price is set so high (just because of scarcity?)? And (2) what is the incremental benefit for paying this exponential increase? For example, what would one gain in taking the US$46000 piece of Wild Ginseng versus taking a US $100 one. But... people's believes are their believes. If one believes that taking this piece of Wild Ginseng would make him/her live forever, or increases (for him) his manhood for the next 10 years, then I suppose no price is too high. Especially to the Rich (and may or may not need to be famous)... This is the way of life in their realm and money is never in considerations.

I have read those menus. They are quite interesting. Most of the dishes on the menu have 2 titles. The main title is some kind of poetic names. It is usually some pretty names or phases but somehow are tied in to the food in that dish. The subtitle is the actual description of what the dish is. Without subtitles, it's just anybody's guess. This dish naming practice is very typical of Chinese banquet meals. I have played that little naming game too with my pictorial recipe on Stir-Fried Lotus Roots with Dry Conpoy and Hairy Moss Fungi (連年發財: 瑤柱發菜炒蓮藕) The dishes do seem uncommon compared to what's offered at other restaurants. Being that it is a private kitchen, it's up to the chef what dishes to offer. One thing that I always wonder about these private kitchens is: would there be nights that nobody eats there at all?

Lovely! Thanks for sharing your picture, OnigiriFB. Do you like firm tofu better? I like the silken soft tofu to increase the texture contrast between the minced meat and the tofu.

One's preference is just that: one's preference. For those of us who grew up in Hong Kong, we may preferred the Hong Kong style spaghetti and meat sauce (which I heard was made with ketchup and soy sauce) rather than "authentic" Italian spaghetti and meat sauce - the same way that someone prefers "chop suey" Chinese than Chinese in China Regarding the oyster sauce issue: yes, oyster sauce is used alone to flavor blanched vegetables (the most popular one is gai lan). We do that in Hong Kong too. But that would be just about one of the very few instances that oyster sauce is used alone. Mostly it is used as a flavoring agent in producing many dishes in the kitchen. Regarding Ken Hom's book, here is an excerpt from an editorial review: He was crowned as an "authority on Chinese cooking". Personally, I think when one advocates and educates the food of a certain ethnicity, he/she should pay respect to that culture and be truthful to it. To me, if I want to make Mexican food I would like to read a cookbook on how Mexicans would prepare Chile Verde or Taco, but not the Taco Bell version. Most of Hom's recipes in the books are just that: "prepare and boast an Asian flair appealing to the American palate". But I think this particular "oyster beef noodle" dish has gone a bit too far. Just placing a pair of chopsticks when serving does not make a dish any more Asian.

Barbara: Head-on is preferred. But you can make it without heads too. Mung bean threads are optional too. They don't add flavor to the dish, but will soak up the juice from the shrimp and taste wonderful. Rachel: Thanks for the suggestion. That might just be the ticket to make this dish quicker. muichoi: Using butter is my own touch. They probably don't use it in the restaurants. I do find the richness of butter enhances this particular Chinese dish.

Poor thing... My [kitchen] door will always be open for you and your family... Have a nice flight home to the warm paradise! It's freezing (28F, -2C) in Sacramento!

This classical Cantonese steamed shrimp with garlic dish takes a little bit of work - mostly for slicing each shrimp in half. The rewarding taste of fresh shrimp in rich garlic steamed to perfection is well worth it. The mung bean threads placed at the bottom of the dish would soak up the juice from the shrimp and they taste wonderful. For a pictorial recipe of this dish, click here.

#34, Steamed Shrimp with Garlic (粉絲蒜蓉蒸蝦)

Steamed Shrimp with Garlic (粉絲蒜蓉蒸蝦) This classical Cantonese steamed shrimp with garlic dish takes a little bit of work - mostly for slicing each shrimp in half. The rewarding taste of fresh shrimp in rich garlic steamed to perfection is well worth it. The mung bean threads placed at the bottom of the dish would soak up the juice from the shrimp and they taste wonderful. Picture of the finished dish: Serving Suggestion: 2 to 3 Preparations: Main ingredients: (From top right, clockwise) About 1 1/4 lb of medium size shrimp (with head). The larger the size the better (less work). About 1/4 of a stick of butter. At least one whole head of garlic (or maybe even 1 1/2). 3 bundles of dry mung bean threads. Some salt and light soy sauce. Not shown: 1 - 2 stalks of green onion. Soak the mung bean threads in warm water for at least 2 hours before cooking. This is the time-consuming part: cut each shrimp right in the middle into 2 halves. Use 2 steaming dishes/plates. Drain the soaked mung bean threads and lay half of them on each plate. Lay the halfed shrimp on each plate. It is easier (and better for presentation) to lay them one by one next to each other, with one plate of shrimp going clockwise and the other counterclockwise. Peel the garlic and mince them with a garlic press. Use at least 1 whole head of garlic. May be even 1 1/2 to 2 heads. You cannot get too much garlic with this dish. Also, finely chop 1 to 2 stalks of green onion. Cooking Instructions: Use a wok/pan. Set stove at high. Wait until pan is hot. Add 3 tblsp of cooking oil. Slice the 1/4 of a stick of butter and melt it in the cooking oil. Add all minced garlic. Add 2 to 3 tsp of salt. Sautee the garlic for about 2 minutes. Dash in about 2 tsp of light soy sauce. Stir well. Use a small spoon to spread the butter/garlic/salt/soy-sauce mixture onto the shrimp. Try to spread as even as you can. Use a double deck steamer (or steam the 2 plates separately if you don't have a double deck steamer), pre-boil the water. Steam the plate of shrimp for about 10 minutes. Finished. Sprinkle some chopped green onions on top before serving.

I remember that back in the early 70's, the Hong Kong stock market went way bullish. Many Hong Kong stock players ordered shark fin soup while having dim sum at lunch! Just to show off, they used shark fin soup to mix with rice and ate them as if they were casual everyday meal. And the drink, of course, could only be XO no less. After the market crashed (in 73 was it?)... those diners suddenly all disappeared. But of course this get-rich-quick&spend-quicker behavior repeats with every stock market bull/bear cycle. You could see that before 87 and lately 99. I suppose when people have disposable income attained extremely rapidly, price would never be too high for a bragging right.

I use a portable indoor grill made of cast iron. Like this one. On one side it has grids and the other side is flat. Very convenient. I set it on top of a camping stove (2 burners) which runs on kerosene. Because of exhaust concerns, we only do this in our backyard patio and not in the dining room. Works pretty well. There are other small stoves designed for Asian "hot pot" indoor that you can buy. They run on gas, sold in small canisters. The only draw back: I have only seen single burner models and it's not strong enough to heat up my indoor grill. Isn't teppanyaki (e.g. beef) very similar to Vietnamese charboiled beef slices? Maybe just use Japanese soy sauce instead of fish sauce to marinate and you are in business.

It's "hairy crab".

If I order this only for the 2 of us at Jumbo, I wonder how they are going go serve us Fried Crispy Chicken. Do we get chicken wings and thighs and another table of 2 get breasts and drum sticks? Also, I wonder what "Crab's Cream" is... or perhaps we don't want to know.

I think it takes more than ingredients alone. Cooking style is the whole process, plus ingredients. And to some: even the way a meal is presented and consumed. For example, many different countries in Europe, France, Italy, Germany, Demark, etc.. have access to and use about the same ingredients. Butter, olive oil, cheese, wine, carrots/onions/celery, etc.. Does it mean using olive oil to cook automatically makes it an Italian dish? Using kalamata olives makes it Greek? Or using butter and flour makes it French? Of course not. Then why would using oyster sauce, sesame oil and soy sauce automatically makes it Chinese? Back to the oyster sauce beef noodle example: if the process presented was to cut the London Broil steak in slices, marinate it with soy sauce, first velvet it in oil and later toss and stir-fry with el dente spaghetti with some oyster sauce added, then I think it is at least an attempt to cook in Chinese style - however it tastes. Yet I have trouble accepting if someone just bakes some meatloaf and drop a few teaspoons of soy sauce on top and call it Chinese, or even "Chinese inspired". I agree with what Ben, Gul_Dekar and Shiewie said about adapting (and substituting) foreign ingredients and evolving and branching off. Fusion I would accept. Or a title like "this is what you can do with your wok and some soy sauce in your own kitchen, quick and easy", I will accept peacefully. But the title of "The Fastest Food in the East", be "East" refers to China or elsewhere in Asia (which I am darn sure East doesn't mean New York versus California), implies that's how Chinese/Asians cook if they don't have much time to prepare the "normal" meal the classical way. That, I think, is misleading.

I really like this cookbook from Martin Yan: Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking : 200 Traditional Recipes from 11 Chinatowns I found quite a few classical Chinese recipes of dishes served in many Chinese restaurants and very close to those made in Hong Kong, China.

I just browsed Ken Hom's latest cookbook: Ken Hom's Quick Wok: The Fastest Food in the East Some of these recipes... quick they may be, but I found them very unconventional, or deviated quite far from the classical recipes. When I read these recipes and viewed the pictures, I had the image of Charlie Sheen's character Bud Fox in the movie Wall Street, living in the Penthouse apartment in New York making sushi from a machine in his kitchen. I cook mostly classical Chinese recipes. I do try more modern approaches from time to time. But it doesn't mean I would blanch some vegetables, then drizzle some soy sauce and sesame oil on top (or insult it more with sprinkling some sesames seeds on top) and call it a Chinese dish. One of the recipes is named something like "beef noodles with oyster sauce". He boiled some noodles (which looked like spaghetti) to al dente, laid them on a plate. He marinated a piece of what looked like London Broil steak with soy sauce, then seared it whole, and then sliced it up. (You can see that the steak is done medium rare.) He laid the steak slices on top of the noodles. Then he took a spoonful of oyster sauce right from the bottle and spreaded it on top of each slice of steak. Wow! That defies all my training and knowledge of Chinese cooking (or Asian cooking as his book title implied). So where do you draw the line? Where/when do you consider a Chinese dish as a Chinese dish? Just because I use oyster sauce for flavoring instead of A1 sauce on a medium rare London Broil slices on top of some al dente spaghetti, would that make my dish a Chinese dish?

Beautiful! Where did you get your duck liver lap cheung, Karen? I tried shopping for it in San Francisco China Town a few weeks ago. They told me they haven't carried this for a long long time because the FDA banned import of duck liver. Also, did I see some shreds of "chung choy" (preserved daikon turnip) in your dish?

sheetz: is this $1000 a person Hong Kong Dollar, or US Dollar? HK$1000 does not seem too far out. At my first glance, I thought this was US$1000 per person (which would be something). My cousin treated us in our 8th Moon 15th day dinner at Zen Peninsula (Millbrae, CA). The dinner was priced at something like $380. Then he added a few things here and there. I projected it was US$500+ for 10 people. That set banquet only had one "Abalone with black mushrooms" and "Shark Fin with shredded chicken soup".

That looks lovely! I am sorry I am putting some premix manufacturers out of business.

I thought tripe is tripe, and the honeycomb like piece is cow stomach. Am I off? Are they both called tripe? Like OnigiriFB said, both tripe and stomach are served in Chinese dim sum. The honeycomb stomach is typically braised with five spice, soy sauce and some nam yu (fermented red bean curds). Tripe, on the other hand, are typically steamed with black beans, chili, ginger and green onions. In Hong Kong, we eat many other cow organs or body parts too: such as lung, intestines, liver, tendon, bone marrow, tongue, etc.. I don't know about pre-cooking and bleaching but it seems to make sense. As for a test, probably feel it with your knife. If you can cut it easily, it's probably pre-cooked. If it is tough, then probably it's raw. I typically braise honeycomb stomach, Chinese style, for over 2 hours. For pre-cooked stripe: cut it into very thin strips and steam with fermented black beans, chili, ginger and green onions for 30 minutes. Chinese like to make the curry honeycomb stomach too.

Picture: Chinese name: 雪魚茄子煲 English name: Clay Pot: Sea Bass with Eggplant Category: Cantonese dinner entree, Clay Pots Description: Sea Bass filet, lightly battered and deep-fried, then braised with eggplant in a sauce made with broth and oyster sauce. (Offered at: New Hong Kong Wok Restaurant ((916) 454-2828), Sacramento, CA, USA)