yimay

i just remembered, you can also put it on xian dou jiang, the savory soybean milk soup for northern dim sum served with the fried crullers. also i found this entry about pork floss from emeril: http://www.emerils.com/cooking/archives/002583.html

My mom also used to make sandwiches, and always made sure to butter the bread so the meat doesn't all fall out. Of course, I'd always get comments from other kids that my sandwich looked gross...but so tasty. ← YES. you must butter the toast to keep the rou song in the sandwich. damn that's good stuff.

like fan tuan it's used in a lot of savory pastries, baked goods as filling/toppings. i've also seen it used in fried rice a lot, i guess as a back up protein source. this may be just in my family though. i can't think of any other typical uses besides what's been mentioned here. when i was a kid my mom and i used it in sushi rolls. my family also used it to make breakfast sandwiches in place of bacon or sometimes just slapped between two pieces of toast for a quick meal to eat in the car on the way to school. we also adapted them to be used in grilled cheese sandwiches.

my mom used to make salty eggs and they'd end up being stinky eggs. my parents ate them anyways. they loved em. i think there is an aquired taste for both. next time try eating it!

i think the more specialized you get like going to private farmers for specialty cuts, the more expensive it will be. probably even more than central market charges. you could also try one of the asian grocery stores that has a meat counter.

elsi's is only ok. i don't understand the hype behind it. chuy's salsa sucks so bad. i love taqueria arandas #3 for mexican food. they have the best fresh salsa, hands down. i actually really like pappasito's chips and salsa too.

anyone have any recipes for those tiny clams marinated in soy sauce and chiles? i'd like to review some recipe options before making a big batch.

i don't know about meat that's already been processed and ready to cook, but i've seen live turtles at the huge Hong Kong shopping center grocery store out on Bellaire. it's possible they might have frozen turtle meat. if they don't have it they might know where as i've been to many chinese seafood restaurants with live tanks, and seen many with live turtles. you could possibly try to buy some from the restaurants.

a lot of chinese (and some vietnamese) restaurants have this or a version of it with varying levels of tastiness... some can really eff it up though, so be wary. usually it's called Pan Fried Noodles or Crispy Fried Noodles on english menus (Liang Mian Huang in mandarin) and you can choose your meat combination. the last time i had it was at Din Ho BBQ. they serve it with a seafood (shrimp, squid, fake crab) and meat combination (chicken, pork, beef). their version is pretty decent, the sauce is super oily though. i believe T&S serves pan fried noodles as well. also China Palace, that Kent (and now I) rave about, over on Airport also has pan fried noodles. i haven't had it, but based on the meal i had the other night at their restaurant, it is probably pretty good.

i checked out china palace last night. i find it odd that places with separate chinese menus don't give the menus out to all of the customers, chinese or caucasian. i'm chinese and went with a white friend and i had to ask for this special menu. i supposed i look very americanized. i think they are doing a disservice to many locals that want other options besides sesame chicken and egg rolls by not letting them see the entire menu. anyhoo, we ordered the red oil wontons (one of my favorite sichuan dishes), ma po's tofu, one of the pork intestine dishes (i think the one with sichuan spicy sauce) and some scallion pancakes. i loved it all. the ma po's tofu tasted better than my mom's (don't tell her)! i'm definitely going back as they are right down the street from my house and they deliver! thanks for the tip, kent!

Maiko on 6th is open til 3am on weekends. It's no Musashino but they have very decent sushi and i'm always pleased. Las Cazuelas is a tasty mexican option on east cesar chavez and open until midnight weekdays and 3:30am on weekends. Mostly Spanish speaking staff so come armed with a spanish speaker or a healthy knowledge of mexican dishes. they have the largest menu of items i've ever seen. pretty much any mexican dish you might want they will have.

there is not a sur la table in austin. closest is in houston. some local stores: Chef's Toolbox Breed & Company Ace Mart ABC Restaurant Supply but i don't think the prices are really that much cheaper. your best bet, and my favorite are Ross Dress for Less and TJ Max which have awesome discounted kitchenware and gadgets.

no, it's just pork/shrimp wontons in soup with egg noodles. thus, won ton noodle soup.

Din Ho has pretty good won ton noodles. Tan Tan, a vietnamese restaurant off of highway 183 has pretty good won ton noodle soup too. i think din ho has chow mai fun (stir fried rice noodles, right?) on their menu too, but i've not had them. all in all, don't expect much from chinese restaurants in austin. they will all be disappointing in some respect. i think the only one i can really back is Pao's Mandarin House for szechuan cuisine. but din ho and t&s offer some of the better cantonese options you can't get anywhere else in the city. T&S is a bit overpriced though (for chinese food i think) but they have congee/jook and a great dim sum selection. another place i like is Wok n Roll on north Burnet for things like gan chau niu he (flat rice noodles with beef and scallions) and pork and thousand year old egg congee, and fried rice with salty fish... stuff like that.

my entire life living in the states, i always had pi dan that had solid centers. two years ago, during a visit in taiwan i had some with a soft, runny yolk and i was in heaven. for 28 years i had no idea what i was missing. mom says you can't find runny ones like that in the states (or at least where we lived). so yes, they are old. the ones that are shipped here have been sitting on the shelf for so long, they get harder and harder over time. so sad.

oh man, my entire extended family in taiwan fights over the bones and cartilage at the dinner table. we call my cousin "the dog" because of the way she can manipulate a piece of bone in her mouth and hack away at it until virtually nothing i left. i love some cartilage and bone, but i can't actually ingest it like she does. perhaps it's the american upbringing in me. final preparations of western food also don't tend to resemble anything like the original animal. i think that's why a lot of people have issues with bones/duck heads/whole fish. chinese (and french) cuisine tends to use every bit of the animal so you can't really avoid bones and cartilage and tendon and sinewy bits that we cherish so much. i had duck tongue for the first time in taiwan last march from some place famouse for it. it was "red-cooked" or hong shau (with anise and spices) and was also heavily flavored. but i think that is the point of that kind of red-cooking. the parts that are many times used — pig's ears, chicken feet, duck tongue, tendon, even when my mom cooks with chicken wings — usually have a a very high cartilage or skin to meat ratio and are always overpowered by those red-cooked flavors. they are basically just a flavor vehicle for the soy/sugar/spice in the hong shau sauce. i think this type of cuisine came about in the tradition of using every part of the animal. tasty!

i'm going to japan in october also! i'm also interested in getting some knives for my mom. do you know the address for the Cutlery Hall in Seki/Gifu area? i couldn't find any location information on this place. if anyone can give any tips on what kind of knives to buy, i'd much appreciate it.

how about some homemade chocolates/truffles with a bit of the flavored salt sprinkled on top for decoration and flavor?

the micheladas at vivo are awesome. the margaritas are overpriced. if you like puffy tacos head down to angie's on east 7th and I-35 and get their carnitas tacos. they will blow vivo's puffy tacos out of the water.

the chinese invented everything.

The bottom line is that is created via a fundamentally different method than other tofu. One being it's source of thick soymilk, others being the fact that it's not strained but more created by pouring into a container like a soft cheese. ← i think you might have misunderstood your quote. "...SEEMS to have been strained thru silk". the reality is that all tofu is strained to remove the solids. the liquid that is left over is soymilk which is made into tofu by adding a curdling/setting agent. the difference between silken, soft, medium, hard... whatever, is whether or not, and how much the tofu is pressed to extract moisture. silken tofu is not pressed at all, thus giving it a silky, moist texture, versus hard tofu which is pressed until most of the moisture is gone. that's the only difference between the different firmnesses of tofu. so as stated above, many times silken tofu is poured directly into the final container before it is set, and there is so much moisture no skin is formed

you are overcooking the tofu, that's why it gets spongy. as mentioned by other members, you only need to add the cubed tofu at the last minute to warm through and then serve. don't cover it as it's warming, or the tofu will expand and start to change textures. you can use silken tofu, just be very careful not to stir the dish too much.

my mom used to put them in the rice cooker to be steamed with the rice. the rice then tasted AWESOME. we used it for stir fries, fried rice, oil rice, to stuff roasted/braised ducks. the simplest dish was to stir fry it with some broccoli. tasty!

hey neal, we've never officially met but i've met your sweet doggie before! i love him! i also have pictures of him! i swear i wasn't stalking (joanna brought him to a party once). i also saw you the other night in the parking lot while leaving a disasterous night at club deville. anyways, i'm from houston, now live here in austin. i think i have a pretty good handle on what you can get in houston that you can't get here. for (casual) fine dining i would recommend Churrasco's, or if you are feeling up for it, its sister restaurant Americas which has a similar menu but is more refined and more expensive (incredible interior). they specialize in south american cuisine, so it's not regional to texas, per say, but it sure is damn good. i prefer churrasco's... get the steak marinated in chimichurri, and the "tower" appetizer plate. for vietnamese i would get Grilled Pork Banh Mi from Givral's on Bellaire in the "china town" Din Ho shopping center. they also have traditional vietnamese dishes that are delish (my vietnamese uncle approves). there is a location downtown too, but i've never been. if you are feeling adventurous, head down Bellaire, outside of the Tollway and you will see tons of Vietnamese restaurants. there are several "famous" ones located in the strip malls you will pass that are written up in the local chinese papers. they all claim to have the best pho, but you really can't go too wrong in houston. i've been to several, can't say any one is the best, but they all have pretty good pho. there is one in particular, that is on a strip mall to the left (as you are driving west on bellaire) that is next to an african grocery store. sorry, the name escapes me. make sure to stop by the Hong Kong market, the most gigantic asian grocery store you will ever witness. one of my most favorite places to eat is <a href="http://www.dailyreviewcafe.com/">The Daily Review</a> in the museum district. the menu is sort of upscale comfort food. they have wonderful brunches (and lunch and dinner) one thing austin is in serious lack of is chinese food. so if you are up for chinese brunch head towards Bellaire again and find the Dynasty Mall shopping center on the corner of Bellaire and Sam Houston Tollway. there is a huge Dim Sum restaurant upstairs, on the right side of the building. There is also the staple dim sum place, Golden Palace on Bellaire near Gessner. these two restaurants always change owners so sometimes the recipes/qualities change, but still is better than what you can get here in austin. one of my favorite chinese restaurants is Cu Po La, but they moved to another location and might be called Shanghai Restaurant now. also on Bellaire... 9116 Bellaire to be exact, next to Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant. best of all, all dishes are like $7. (good) chinese food is cheap eats heaven for me. enjoy!

i've had chinese food in Italy more times than i'd care to remember. once while i was studying there for a summer (we got bored of the pasta, decided to venture out), and many many times on a trip with my mother (she only eats chinese food). maybe i just didn't go to the right place, maybe i'm used to "americanized" chinese food, but they were all awful experiences.