Gastro888

Good Grief! Too time consuming? When you retire? Why you young whippersnapper! I ought to take the gai mo so to your butt! Salting your old ham dan is NOT time consuming. You buy some eggs, duck eggs if possible, or double yolk chicken eggs, or just extra large chicken eggs. Mix up brine strong enough so that an egg will float in it. Use a non-metallic container big enough to hold a couple dozen eggs. Add the eggs, place a plate on top so the eggs are all submerged but not packed down. Leave it in a cool place for a month - VOILA! Check the eggs after about 3 weeks. How long it takes depends on how strong your brine solution is. Retire...hrumph! ← Oh, Dejah jeh and Ah Leung Goh, you guys are funny. I am all for taking the time out to make good eats and I'm willing to work. But right now it's not that fesible for me considering I live in a shoebox of an apartment and I am usually cooking for either 1 or at most 2. The traditional (and correct) methods of cooking our wonderful food don't fit in with my current schedule and demands right now. Our ancestors never really had to deal with singleton life in the city. A dozen ham dan would last me at least two years plus I'd have the "hassle" of storing them. (As is, I'm storing my kitchen equipment in my room as there is no room in the kitchen.) If I made some ham dan now, it may be easy (to be fair, I didn't know it was *that* easy! ) but I'd have this big ol' jar in the middle of my kitchen..that I'd have to walk around to get to the fridge!

I'll try making my own one day. Later. Not now...too time consuming. Maybe when I retire. But so far I have to tackle the pork belly and the black bean sauce for next week. Tonight I've got Mexican and Korean on the menu.

Egg yolks are high in Cholestrol; therefore,..................... The ham dan you get is cooked? I've never heard of that. Are you thinking they are cooked because the yolk is firm? They wouldn't keep very long even in the fridge ← I should clarify - I didn't realize that the process of making pay dan makes them higher in cholesterol. That's what I meant. I know eggs are naturally high in cholesterol. Yeah, we can't get raw salted duck eggs here. Shoot, that's what I should've bought in Montreal last year! I'll remember that for this year's visit.

Lovely! I rarely see the transparent egg white and jell/liquid like egg yolks. I guess all the Asian markets in the Bay Area need to be fired! Most carry brands from the same manufacturer. And all are crappy. Dried and dull in color. ← Pay dan has high cholesterol? I never knew. Why is that? Oh yeah and does anyone know where to get uncooked ham dan (salted duck eggs)? I can only find the COOKED kind in NYC. Bleah...

Thanks for the tips, Ah Leung Goh and Dejah Jeh! It's very helpful. We'll see how the next dish goes. I blanched the bitter melon cuz I like bitter things but not too too bitter.

The five spice was on the beef and it was just a "hey, it's there and why not" kind of addition. I wanted to try something new.

I don't use oyster sauce that often and my mom hardly ever does. It's there for certain Chinese mushroom dishes that she cooks and for choy but other than that, it's hardly ever touched. I used it the other night to cook some beef in oyster sauce but that's about it. Now I gotta try cooking this dish with ginger. Ah Leung Goh, can you do a pictorial, please?

Really? I never knew. We probably didn't get ginger with black beans on our side of the mountain. Oops. So what's the ratio of ginger to black beans and garlic in the mash? 1:1:1?

I've never had black bean sauce with ginger or sugar. Would that really work? In my household, we've never done that (to my knowledge). I usually use ginger in my fish/seafood dishes but not with beef. I'm not too crazy about ginger unless it's with fish/seafood or as ginger ale.

Teaism! That's a cute little Asian inspired teahouse that your family might enjoy. Try their salty oat cooky, it's wonderful. I would go to the one downtown near the Navy Yard Metro stop - it's bigger and has alot of seating downstairs.

The chefs are French and they are very skilled & talented. I think you'd learn alot from them. The kitchen itself is small and tight. Oddly enough the rest room is downstairs right next to the kitchen area. It's definitely not spacious like EMP or The Modern. The actual restaurant is small but very quaint and cute. I would say go for it if you want to expand on your French culinary techniques. However, I cannot speak to the hours or type of work environment that is in the house.

I forgot to mention that I did use cornstarch on the marinade for the meat. Oops. Thanks for the tips, Dejah-jeh! I'll try doing that with the melon next time. So was I right when I stir-fried the black bean and garlic mash first and then added rest of the ingredients?

Thanks, Ben Sook, I appreicate it! I'll readjust the seasonings and try again sometime next week. I used almost 1 lb of hanger steak & (3) 10" bitter melons & Trader Joe's organic chicken stock. I think I might've used too much stock in hope of making lots and lots of gravy. I really like lots and lots of black bean sauce over my rice. It's the best part of this dish!

There's golden syrup from Britain that's called Lyle's Golden Syrup. But I don't know if that's what we'd use considering maltose is a more common ingredient for Chinese cooking. Thanks fot the tips, aznsaliorboi! I forgot about the oyster sauce! I think I'll do that next time. I used up all my fu-gwuah last night so I'll buy some more and try again. I've sushi on the menu tonight and pasta the next so no Chinese again until later in the week.

Well, of course my standards are high for food. I'm Toisanese. It's just that my gravy was very thin and didn't have that rich, clingy, coat your rice with black bean sauce goodness to it. It was well-received but it wasn't like mom's. I think maybe I shouldn't use Shao Xing?

AUGH! No pics from last night's dinner. Actually it wasn't as great as I hoped it would be. It was "good" and edible but I was missing that deep, rich black bean sauce flavor and I don't know what I did wrong. I made my beef and bitter melon in black bean sauce in the following manner: -Washed, cored, sliced the bitter melon into 1/2 circles about 1/4" thick -Blanched for 10 minutes until tender in salted water & drained -Sliced the hanger steak into 1" wide & 1/8" thick slices -Marinated steak in: dark soy, Shao Xing, white pepper, a pinch of 5 spice, mushroom soy & sesame oil (normally I don't really do much to the steak but last night I wanted to try something) -Made the black bean & garlic mash -Fired up the wok, added the oil when hot then added the black bean and garlic mash, chowed for a minute -Added the beef, let it sit for a minute to sear then chowed until 3/4 of the way done -Added the bitter melon, chowed for a few minutes -Added chicken stock, waited for it to boil & then added a cornstarch slurry It was good but not oh wow great. What went wrong? Maybe not enough black bean and garlic mash (I used about 2 TBsp worth)? Maybe I should've left the steak plain? Arugh! Oh and the bitter melon was a bit bleah. I need to grow my own. (IT WASN'T LIKE MY MOM'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Not your pork belly, TP, it was MY pork belly was "soh". The one I made a while ago did have a faint "soh may". I never tasted that before in pork belly so I was surprised. Now I know how you got yours out!

Ooooh, looks yummy, TP! Question - how do you get the "soh may" out of the pork belly? That gamey taste?

The paler green ones you see may be grown in a greenhouse. They are the same as the usual ones in the summer. You can stuff them with ground pork, sauteed then gently braised. Or, make soup with melon chunks, rehydrated oysters, pork and some ginger. Our local Asian store brought in a case, but most of the melons were bought up by their East Indian customers. I bought my share and had dow see gnow yuk chow fu gwa served on top of ho fun. ← Cool, thanks Dejah-Jeh and Ben Sook! Actually, I've never seen a fu-gwuah so pale until I went shopping for it. My mom grows her own and they are BEAUTIFUL. Big, dark green, fat ridges - unlike what you see in the market. I will be making the beef dish tonight for dinner. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow and hope they're as nice as everyone else's. (Which is a big challenge! )

Hi everyone, I've got a question for you about fu-gwuah (bitter melon). I love bitter melon with beef in black bean sauce. However, I cannot grow my own so I'm left to the mercy of the markets. I thought bitter melon is only available during the summer time until I saw some in the NYC markets this month. Now they're not the dark green, fat, wide ridged ones that you see during the summer (ok, I only see those at my mom's but you know what I mean) but they're thinner, pale green with skinny ridges. Now are these inferior? Any special way to prep them besides the normal way? My mom says they are but dang it I want me some dow see ngaw yook fu gwah that I can make myself so I don't have to pay $4 for a skimmpy portion.

Something you have to keep in mind; you only have one ShakeShack and I understand it has quite a following. The thing about IAO is that there are hundreds of them; it IS a chain, not just a one-off. That is why there is such a following at places like ShakeShack and Taylors Refresher (although there are TWO of those and soon to be three). IAO has a following because it is infinitely better than McD's and Carl's Jr and Jack in the Box. Of course it is not going to be as good as a specialty place like SS or Taylors, but for what it is and how accessible it is, it is damn fine. (oh yeah, and you have to order the fries crispy to get them beyond the limp stage). Perspective, please, when comparing apples to oranges... ← But I am comparing apples to apples in that I'm comparing well-loved, well-praised burgers served in a fast-food restaurant. All I am saying that that I wasn't impressed with the IAO burger that has this cult following and is more often than not highly praised. Now if I said that the burger at Peter Luger is better than IAO, of course then you can call me out on the unfair comparison. However, all 3 places (SS, TR, IAO) are fast-food restaurants and not sit down so I feel I am making a fair comparison regardless of the number of units that are operating within the business model. Being a chain is no excuse for a lack of quality or maintaining standards. Also, how many one-off restaurants do you know that are poor? (And I gotta say the best burger I've had in my life so far is a Peter Luger burger but I never had the Taylor's Refresher burger...damn that I have only one stomach. )

That fish taco rocked. Oh holy cow was it tasty. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked - a tasty morsel of a meal. The fish was firm, tender and moist. Oh wow. I wish I had gotten 3 of those instead of the dried, underseasoned, undersalted carne asada taco and the too firm beans with no seasoning. (What the heck? I thought for sure I'd get great Mexican food on the West Coast.) And now to the IAO burger. Three words for you: Shake Shack rules. I'm sorry to say that yes, you guys were right and that it was "just" a burger. It wasn't this OMG wow burger - it was a cheeseburger with limp fries. Why does this outlet have a cult following? I don't get it. True it's much better than McD's but it's nothing to stand in line for. Shake Shack on the other hand... HOWEVER, I did go to Taylor's Refresher and WOW, those where the best fries I had this year. Amazing. That place is awesome. My camera was not working that night so I couldn't take a photo but let me tell you I would definite do the Mijita fish taco with the Taylor's fries for sure. With a Peet's iced coffee and a Miette macaron. And did I mention that Peet's iced coffee rules? No seriously. I love that place. The iced coffee perfect: smooth, rich, bold, not bitter and delicious. The best part? Not only do they have 1/2 and 1/2, whole milk, lowfat milk AND skim milk, they have simple syrup for your beverages. The best part is that they're very reasonably priced. How cool! Why can't other coffeeshops follow suit?

Oh definitely check out Miette. It's totally totally worth it. That banana tart and the macarons - yummy! Here's another thing I from Mijita at the Ferry Building. Ok, I only the fish taco as the carne asada and the beans were eh. (Why oh why were the meals at the Ferry Building eh? ) A close up of the tasty, delicious taco o' fish that I wish I could get over on the East Coast: More details later.

Wait, so this is the yook sung that's sold in tubs? That's pork floss? That's the stuff my friend buy that you could make yourself? Wow! So what's the shelf life on homemade floss?

True but I love me some potatoes in my chowder and I wish I had more. Ah, well. OK so I'll post my thoughts on IAO burger (I had a cheeseburger with everything, small fries and a Diet coke) and on this lovely little banana tart from Miette. I Miette. And yes, that's about an inch of pure, rich, heavenly whipped cream.