sheetz

I wouldn't quite put "Chinese-American" cuisine, at least the way it is served in most restaurants in North America, into the same category as Tex-Mex or Italian-American because the latter two were actually invented and consumed within immigrant households. On the other hand, "Chinese-American" food is a more artificial creation of Chinese restauranteurs devising recipes by trial and error to produce dishes palatable to their mostly non-Chinese clientele. Now, if we want to talk about actual Chinese-American food, which is based on combining traditional Chinese cooking techniques with local ingredients, then that is something different altogether.

For me, it's always been more an issue of accuracy than anything else. Whether someone likes what is being served to them in a restaurant has never been my concern. Even here at EG, I feel that many people don't really understand what Chinese food is because they never get to see what is actually served in Chinese homes as opposed to what they see in local restaurants. Hence I feel it is misleading to lump them all into the catchall phrase "Chinese food," which is the typical way of doing things.

Yes! What kid wouldn't be fascinated with these dishes from Mission 261 in San Gabriel? http://www.flickr.com/photos/wanderingchopsticks/374029605/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/automaticsweetheart/436026991/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/stutefish/34125044/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/stutefish/341...in/photostream/

It does make sense, but I don't know if I'd call it a breakthrough. Typically, to make a more tender pie crust many bakers simply use lower protein flour.

All I can say is to try and make ahead as much as possible. Some pies, like apple, can be made ahead and frozen raw, then baked from the frozen state. Heck, maybe you could even sell them frozen and provide baking instructions. For pumpkin pie, the crusts can be rolled out, fitted in tins, and then frozen. Then filled on the day you bake them.

They seemed to have disappeared off the shelves in the USA. I don't know if they've been banned or what. Even when I was in California last winter there weren't any. I don't know if that's changed recently, but not in the small town where I live. Fresh duck eggs are even harder for me to find! Still, I wonder where the bakeries get theirs from.

I don't think I've ever had fake yolks before. Anyone know how to make it? Since I can't get raw salted duck eggs anymore I can't use them in the mooncakes.

Glad you brought this up because I've been meaning to whip up a batch this year. Still have some time.

Pontormo, from what I understand, leaf lard is used because it is less "porky" than the fat from other parts of the animal. What type of fat did you use?

The ginger-scallion oil that often accompanies poached chicken goes great with crab.

Due to other projects I've been slacking off with the cooking and photos, but this weekend I did manage to whip up a batch of joong. The filling is virtually identical to what Ah Leung used in his pictorial, except that I didn't use any chestnuts.

Looks terrific, shinji!

Using more butter and baking at a lower temperature can help, but there are tradeoffs, too. If you like to form pretty edges and/or designs on your crust, those won't hold up as well. Also, using a lower initial temperature may cause the crust to lose some of its flakiness.

The baking soda is applied to shrimp with the shells still on, so that step may primarily be to make the shells crisper. I'lll try to do a side by side comparison next time and see if I can notice a difference. As for the blanching, Lo says it's to remove some of the liquid from the shrimp, so I suppose doing this would also improve crispiness.

Salt and Pepper Shrimp Adapted from a recipe by Eileen Yin Fei Lo 1/2 pound medium large shrimp (about 12), shells slit in the back and deveined 1/2 tsp baking soda 3 cups water 1 T plus 1/2 tsp salt 2 T cornstarch 1 quart peanut oil 1 tablespoon thinly sliced chilies 1 green onion, thinly sliced 1. Rub the shrimp with the baking soda and refrigerate for at least 30 min. 2. Add water and 1 T salt to a pot and bring to a boil. 3. Blanch the shrimp for 10 seconds, then drain and immediately plunge into ice water to stop the cooking. 4. Remove shrimp from ice water and coat with the cornstarch, shaking off excess. 5. Heat oil in a wok to 350F and fry shrimp for about 1 minute until crisp. Remove shrimp and pour off excess oil from the wok. 6. Heat the wok over medium high heat and add the 1/2 tsp salt, chilies, and green onion. Stir for 30 seconds, then toss in the shrimp, stirring until the shrimp is coated with the seasonings. 7. Remove from heat and serve over jullienned iceberg lettuce. This is a variation I made of this dish, leaving out the chilies and green onion, and adding a 1/4 tsp of ground sichuan peppercorns. The shrimp are crispy and you can actually eat the shells!

Thanks! That seems to be just what I'm looking for!

Hi, I'm currently studying the Japanese language and in order to stave off the boredom of grammar books I thought it would be a good idea to try to incorporate the Japanese language into one of favorite activities--cooking. My library has one bilingual cookbook called 100 Recipes for Japanese Cooking by Kondo and Hata, and I'm wondering if anyone knew of another source of bilingual recipes, particularly something like a website. Thanks.

I don't make double crust pies too often, but when I do I usually precook the filling on the stove. Another option to prevent the dome effect is to make a lattice crust.

I personally prefer jasmine, but my folks still eat plain loh wah kiu fan. For saucier dishes like mapo dofu I like Botan calrose.

I haven't been putting too much effort into my cooking lately so here are a few simple dishes I've made: Chicken with Bitter Melon in Black Bean Sauce Kung Pao Shrimp, Cantonese style using Eileen YF Lo's recipe Salt and Pepper Prawns, once again using one of Eileen YF Lo's recipes I can't believe it's almost that time of the year again for making/eating joong. I'll have to start making preparations soon...

I've found that to be exactly the case, as well. For instance, when a recipe calls for say, butter, some people will think it's fine to substitute EVOO. Or instead of cake flour they'll use bread flour. I like to measure fairly precisely but I realize that it's hard to be so precise while working in such an uncontrolled environment as most home kitchens. That said, when a recipe calls for a particular ingredient I try my best to use that ingredient unless I'm positive leaving it out or substituting for it will have no adverse effect on the finished product.

I think this way is only easier if you are using cooked rice. If you are using raw rice the pyramidal shape I think is easier.

Prawncrackers, I haven't seen anyone doing it like you do, either. Still looks delicious, though.

I like those blocks of S&B Curry sauce for a quick curry stir fry. Just marinate your meat the night before and chop up some veggies. Stir fry everything and add the curry blocks along with some broth. Easy and fast.

Sounds like it's the wheat starch and not the wheat gluten that firms up the noodles. Cake flour has a higher proportion of wheat starch than other types of wheat flour, so that's probably why it's used.