Jason Perlow

Does it explicitly say on the menu that the bamboo shoots are fresh? Yes. Most definitely. They are "very expensive" according to Cecil. He even brought one out to show to us. In particular, he referred to them as "fresh heart of bamboo"

According to the McDonalds web site, here is the current ingredient list for the McNugget:

Sometimes we must make sacrifices in the name of science and cutting edge food reporting, nerissa!

We had ours with the barbeque sauce, there did not appear to be any changes with the seasoning. We totally forgot to try the other ones, whoops.

Dry (trocken) reisling or alsatian gewurtztraminer. Something with serious acidity to cut the grease.

At China 46 in Ridgefield NJ, they are often served with fresh shitakke mushrooms and baby bok choy and then sauteed with garlic and served simply. We've also had this as a "fancy chicken chow mein" (paraphrasing China 46's owner, Cecil Wang) with chopped up leeks, chives and chicken, also sauteed with garlic.

After hearing all about the new and improved White Chicken Mcnuggets, we had to go out and try some today. As you can see from this six-pack, there is in fact new packaging and labelling for the new McNugget. The new nuggets appear on the surface to be fairly similar to the old ones, as they have maintained effectively the same post-modern processed shapes, instead of going to a more natural design, such as Burger King's. I would have preferred the latter. Close-up reveals that the content appears largely as processed "white meat" (indicating they are likely rib meat, probably not chicken breast). The coating/breading appears to separate from the interior meat filling, likely due to the reduced fat content. Taste? Well, I am not sure if these are a representative sample as we bought these at the McDonalds in the Englewood NJ location, but the oil they were fried in seems to have gone somewhat rancid. But as an experienced nugget eater, who can see through rancidity like an experienced wine master can taste through a corked Burgundy, I can definitely say that these are only a -slight- improvement over the previous product. I will note that the new and improved product was $2.85 for a container of 6, which seems pretty expensive.

Overall I tend to prefer the Shanghainese preparations over Cantonese, as their sauces for seafood are less "gloppy" but I like both. Lobster Cantonese, if done correctly, can be a superb dish. The Shanghainese method, Sauteed with Fresh Ginger and Garlic over flat rice noodles or rice cakes would be my preferred way to eat Chinese seafood. I like it with black bean sauce as well.

I think that can be applied to all shellfish, not just lobsters. They are a tough bunch to beat, for sure. I would say the Spanish have a certain way with many shellfish as well. Very true. But the representation of how Cantonese and Shanghainese chefs handle shellfish versus how MOST spanish restaurants in the US handle shellfish is an entirely different matter. I've been very disappointed in the wasy most Spanish restaurants handle seafood in the US, whereas I can't say that for Chinese. The French and Italians don't suck either. But for diversity of flavors and preparations, you gotta hand it it to the Chinese.

I'm quite impressed how they handled your Hindu dining preferences, Ajay.

I think that can be applied to all shellfish, not just lobsters. They are a tough bunch to beat, for sure.

I'll second Gluckstern's book, although he is definitely very, very biased toward Germanics/Alsatians and Italian reds. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course.

I'm afraid I'm a wimp, just plain chicken with the sauce on it for me. Organ meats... bleck!

Actually bacon-wrapped turkey breast kebabs is a common Rodizio dish.

it was mixed with the mushrooms surrounding the bed of spinach, finely chopped.

I REALLY liked this beer a lot, very similar to a Guinness but perhaps not quite as bitter. Not being a huge fan of duck, I was a bit wary of this at first. Its very similar to a regular proscuitto, but richer and gamier. Not something I would want in larger amounts, the taste on the soup spoon with the pear relish was just right. Actually, I really liked the sauce -- I didn't think it was too tart at all. I was wiping it up with the bread (oh, the wonderful, wonderful bread and breadsticks at this place!) after I was done with the mussels! It was very acidic, but I think you need that for a mussels dish. There were also nice hints of fennel in the sauce as well. This dish was brillantly executed -- this is perhaps the most tender and moist turkey breast I have ever had. The herbs were actually threaded through the breast itself, allowing it to release their oils into the meat. The mushrooms were very plentiful in the sauce and the sauteed fresh spinach was perhaps some of the best I have ever had. I'd recommend this dish to anyone, especially to turkey breast naysayers. This is NOT your Thanksgiving turkey, folks.

Would a roundup-review type article of superpremium soy sauces be something you guys would be interested in seeing in TDG?

Shielke: Koreans are unique in that for formal dining, they use slim METAL chopsticks and METAL rice bowls. They can be very difficult to use, even for other Asians. I always ask for wooden or plastic chopsticks at Korean restaurants if they are avaliable. The metal bowls with the metal covers are good for keeping the rice hot, but yeah, you are supposed to leave them on the table and eat the rice with a spoon.

Get some top grade Green tea and mix some of the dried jasmine flowers with it and drink. At Ten Ren in NYC, they charge like 90 bucks a pound for that stuff. Its also done with Rose hips, I have a Black tea from china that has the rose hips in it. Both of these teas that I have are loose teas.

Well, thats a relief, even though according to the others it just appears to be a regular-type Shoyu. So if I were to go back to Mitsuwa and ask the store manager for the most serious, upper grade, all-natural, 100 percent Soy stuff, what should I ask for in Japanese?

Yikes. I break these all of the time! Yeah, so do I.

http://eng.joy2food.com/etiquette/manner.asp http://www.seoulsearching.com/culture/etiquette.html Well, chances are, if you've followed the Japanese and Chinese norms of eating at the table, you've probably made yourself look pretty uncouth at a Korean restaurant. Two important pointers: 1) Don't eat rice with chopsticks, use a spoon. 2) DONT pick up your bowl, leave it on the table. Anyone else got any interesting stories?

I purchased this soy sauce, along with a liter of the standard Japanese-origin Kikkoman from a local Japanese supermarket (mitsuwa, in edgewater NJ). This stuff was pretty expensive, six bucks a bottle if I remember. So far, I've used it only as a condiment for making a dipping sauce for chinese dumplings (this shoyu + black rice wine vinegar + scallion/garlic). Very powerful stuff. Anyone know more about what to do with it? The store also has "whole bean" organic soys that are wheatless, but that stuff was pretty pricey.

Dinner tonight - Kitchen Sink Pad "Not quite" Kee Maow Noodles: Flat rice noodles stir-fried in Kee Maow Chili Paste, Soy and Ketchup, Galangal, Lime Leaves with Chicken and Tofu, Thai Basil, Cilantro, White Mushrooms, Shitakke, Scallion, Shallot, chopped thai green chile and chopped up leftover Dou Miu. Overkill, but tasty. And Spicy.

http://recipes.egullet.com, soon coming to a browser near you.