ulterior epicure

So sue me... my last evening in China, I spent gorging myself on sushi. Yeah, I know, I know, for shame.... but it was great!! I had more sushi than you can imagine - and other assundries, including beef wrapped around asparagus and stewed in BUTTER. Sukiyaki was great. So was the chawan mushi which was so soft, I had a hard time believing there was anything in the bowl when I cut through it with my spoon. At the bottom was a single gingko nut. Grilled leeks, yakitori style, as well as grilled garlic cloves. Grilled flying fish roe was particularly great - although a bit salty. Salmon jowls and cheeks (and head), sashimi, nigiri, uni, ikura (salmon eggs), and on and on... we stumbled out stuffed. Hopefully, it'll tide me over the dreadful food on the airplane tomorrow. See you all state-side! I look forward to reporting and posting (pictures) in more detail then! Cheers. u.e.

Yes, but even more pungent than the smelliest cheese - it's like blue cheese meets very ripe Lindberger. It's so good. Speaking of stinky, have you had durian - that's the fruit version... I haven't had any of my beloved durian on this trip, though. u.e.

Sorry. The only stinky doufu (臭豆腐) I have come across here looks likes more this. I was in Hunan just last week and ate some of the black stuff. Delicious! http://liuzhou.blog-city.com/yuanling.htm ← Yes, this is the really pungent stuff - the really good kind!

Honestly, I don't eat at a lot of Chinese restaurants in the U.S., so I can't be sure that my observations are correct here. To my knowledge, the moo shu I had last night was different from the U.S. in that: 1. There was no "pankcake" wrapper/crepe to fill. 2. The moo shu I had last night was more "rough" - full chunks of scrambled egg, large cuts of beef and wood ear mushrooms. The moo shu in the U.S. seems to be all chopped up with shoe-string slivers of wood ear and bamboo shoots - and sometimes Nappa cabbage and carrots. The moo shu last night, I'll have to admit, wasn't that compelling to me. The traditional Shing Jiang stuff I had - like the lamb skewers, lamb soup and "big plate o' chicken" in red curry sauce - was the real pleasure. u.e.

I *love* having local friends! Tonight, my trusty family friends took me to a traditional Shing Jiang restaurant. Shing Jiang is an autonomous territory in the Western frontier of China - near Tibet. The food has a distinct Muslim as well as Indian influence. Tonight, we feasted on Shing Jiang's famous "yiang rou tsuan" - lamb skewers, which could be ordered spicy or plain. Both were EXCELLENT - musky with spices. We also had a huge platter of "da pan chi" - or "big platter of chicken." The dish name describes it pretty accurately: a big a** plate o' chicken stewed in a dark (red) curry sauce with potatoes and onions. We also had a cold enoki mushroom salad, spicy mung bean vermicelli, and steamed chicken feat. We had a lamb soup - full of chunks of lamb short ribs. We had a spicy stew (or rather, pot o' chile oil) of fried fish (like sui tzu yu, "water cooked fish"). We also had a big plate of bok choy with a sesame-soy sauce sauce. A basket of thin sesame flat bread and a basket of batter-dipped and fried sweet corn kernels were among my favorites tonight. We had a plate of "moo shu beef" - slivers of beef cooked together with egg, chile peppers, and wood ear mushroom. I'm about to keel over from exhaustion! More later. u.e.

It certainly looks like it to me... The "stinkiness" of "stinky tofu", as far as I can tell, whether fried or otherwise has mostly to do with the stinkiness of the tofu you start out with, not how it's prepared necessarily. The stinkiest I've experienced was in Chang Sha, Hunan, where it is so fermented it is black... Crazy stinky... ← Yes, the dark purple (ie. "black") stinky tofu is quite an experience. It is exceptionally pungent. re: Wuxi ribs. Yes, from Pan's description, I know them well - but not as Wuxi ribs. I think they might just be called hong sao pai gu: braised ribs. The five spice is a spectacular flavor element. u.e.

Can you elaborate? I know the fried version is very different looking and isn't as stinky. u.e.

Great to hear Liccioni's still out-pacing himself in Wheeling!

...or, like the size-texture of Lebanese bulgar wheat salads. u.e.

I've managed to upload a few pictures: Lotus root stuffed with glutenous rice Jiow Niang Tong Yuan: Fermented glutenous rice porridge with glutenous rice balls (just like mochi). The little bits of white are the rice kernels. Stinky Tofu: Can anyone tell me what the green stems are in the middle of the dish? I'll have to ask my friend again. They were very tough (inedible) on the outside (think extremely woody asparagus stalks), but the inside was meltingly succulent (think bone marrow). You suck the "marrow," which has an odor not to be out-stenched by the stinky tofu, out. More later! u.e.

Rice flours and powders I know of... but that's not what is used in feng zhen rou. Feng zhen rou is rolled in roughy ground glutenous rice - like dry rice that has been rougly ground in a food processor so that each kernel has been broken into a grits type of consistency - but not even that fine. u.e.

Very good question, indeed! From what I know of how to make it, fen zheng rou does seem like an extremely easy dish - my only question is: how do you break/grind up the rice kernels? Does glutinous rice come sold in broken bits for this purpose, or is it a diy kinda thing? When I was growing up, a very good friend's grandma used to make this for her (and I got to try ), and I saw her make it once... but had no idea at the time what was going on. As far as Wuxi ribs go - are they sort of like the small pork ribs that are served in Cantonese dim sum houses? The tiny knuckle-sized ones that are impossibly (fatty) succulent? u.e.

Thanks Michael for your suggestions. Today, I had a lazy start after staying up WAY too late last night - partly due to parting company with good friends and a rather sumptuous dinner at Jean Georges Shanghai. More on that later. Today, I found myself with close local family friends who took me to a "Western-style" shopping complex. It was overwhelming(ly large). We ended up having a rather long mid-day feast at "Zen" - a Cantonese Dim Sum house (although you can order other things). We stuffed ourselves on shrimp dumplings, turnip cakes, Chinese broccoli, shao long bao (famous Shanghai soup dumplings), pig tripe soup, jelly fish, chicken feet, rice noodle-wrapped Chinese sausages, rice noodle-wrapped shrimp, and pork ribs. We finished the meal off with some bitter Chinese herb jelly (not shien tsao bing, this one was 100 x's more bitter) laced with a bit of honey and an egg-nog-type sauce. The effect of mixing all the elements together tasted strangely of burnt sugar caramel. I just got back from a rather exciting meal in Suzhou at Nankai Restaurant. My hostess ordered more food than we could possibly manage... but strangely, our party of eight made an impressive go at the food: Cold dishes included a pumpkin stewed with Chinese red dates (slightly sweet); cilantro with tofu gan in a sesame oil dressing; tofu gan on skewers, cucumbers (strange, but they were really great - crispy and fresh); and ko sui gee (literally "drool chicken") - cold chicken dressed in a spicy chile dressing topped with crushed peanuts and cilantro. Then we had a cold barley and Chinese green bean (not the haricots verts type) soup. The gluttony continued with crispy pig's thigh - think suckling pig crispy skin and a nice layer of fat clinging to smoked ham hock. Then there were these tiny shrimp from Tai Lake - freshwater babies that you could suck the heads off of and then the succulent meat - not to mention the abundant cluster of roe. We had a curious sorghum bun that was concaved - almost like a mushroom cap, in which you filled with a stuffing of diced grean beans (the haricot verts type) and minced pork. One of my favorite dishes was heaping bed of nappa cabbage braised in chicken stock and topped with slices of salty ham. Then there was tofu gan "noodles" in a chicken broth served with mushrooms and baby bok choy. The clear winner of the evening was a platter of pungent "stinky tofu - think blue cheese and very ripe Lindberger meets tofu - OHMYGOSH, I've been dreaming of this dish ever since I last had it in Asia over a decade ago!! A big pot of chicken soup was full of wood-ear mushroom and thin young bamboo shoots. Then there was a dish called tsai fan - a dish of glistening rice that had been wok stir-fried with tiny bits of Chinese bok choy. The last dish before dessert was a steamed fish from Tai Lake (I'll have to report back on the name). The meat was so soft and tender - made even more wonderful by a bath of scallion and ginger soy-sauce dressed with a touch of sesame oil. YUM! The dessert (other than the ubiquitous watermelon), was called jiow niang tong yuan. Jiow niang is white rice tha thas been fermented until the starch has fermented in a very sweet liquor-type substance. The rice kernels all but collapse due to the amount of starch that leaches out. You're left with this amazing rice-liquor porridge. It's extremely fragrant. This dessert was a warm version, where the rice liquor porridge is thickened with cornstarch and simmered with small marbel-sized glutinous rice balls (thick little pearl-sized mochi balls). OHMYGOSH... TO. DIE. FOR. More later. u.e.

It's such a pity that Bon Lloc is no longer open. Any news on when Dahlgren might re-surface? u.e.

Didn't get to try any Biang Biang Mian - I don't think... I did get to try a dish called dao shui mien - or "knife shredded noodles." They looked exactly like the picture you linked here. Wide strips of thin torn pasta - flour based. They were pretty good indeed - but my version came in a soup instead of cooked, or served cold? I can't tell from the picture. Yes, I've had fen zheng rou before - I them. I didn't know they were from the Xi'an area. I didn't get to try any though on this trip - so far... I can echo that. As with me. My meal near the Emperor Qin's tomb was the worst - by far.I'll be in Suzhou and Shanghai in the next few days. I'm sorry I can't be posting pictures due to time constraints. I hope to get to try some snake (although it's particular to Canton and Guangzhou in the South) and some good seafood before I leave... I'm also finding I like the soups here in the (technically) South of China better than the North. The northern soups, from what I sampled, seemed like an afterthought, or what the Chinese here call "pot-rinsing soup." That's really what it tastes like... u.e.

I have to disagree. Some pieces did make sense - I thought the heated stone griddle for the lamb dish I described was ingenious and certainly added to it. On the other hand, one dish was served in a small spoon using the "anti-plate" - basically the rim of a dish with no bottom. Why? Aside from being different than all the places that serve something like that in a Chinese soup spoon. The final dish (a peanut based dish, if I remember off the top of my head) was served on a piece with five wires protruding from it. Granted, I can't see how this particular dish could have been served any other way, but it seemed to me like an excuse to use the tool, rather than a way to enhance the dish. I tend to agree with your observations. The "anti-plate" elicited the same reaction from me - as well as the long single protuding wire with food stuck on the end (Click) - or the five wires for the final chocolate tasting presentation. For me, these "utensils" ended up being too distracting. I didn't have the lobster, but the analogous course on my last visit also shattered all over the place - the Idiazabel. I will agree here as well.[edited to make sense.]

Hi docsconz. I've been choosing restaurants from local recommendations (usually with good effects), and a couple out of convenience - since I am doing quite a bit of sightseeing and these cities here seem to be built on a scale I've never encountered (read: ginormous!!), I sometimes end up eating near where I'm touring - this often yields not-so-good results for an American who's clothes and manner alone scream "herd me into the nearest tourist spot where there's nothing authentic!" However, I have been methodically, as best as I can, try as many different local items as possible - although friends I'm with insist on getting something somewhat familiar everytime - like sweet & sour something or kung pao something... Nevermind them, I stick to the stuff I can't get at home. But, I think I shall have more time at the end of my trip to do some studied eating near and around Shanghai. u.e.

Thanks for all your suggestions! Sorry about the pictures, I guess you'll all just have to wait until I get back to the U.S. and edit them... until then, for those who want to venture onto my flickr account, you'll be able to see the slow up-feed... unedited and uncommented on... just food and (very inadequate) labels. Last night, had wonderful roasted Peking Duck - a highlight. I was really looking forward to a let down. Instead, I was rewarded with a great roasted duck experience - one not to have been outdone by any others I've had elsewhere. I'm in Xi'an now. I just had the most (over) filling dumpling feast for dinner (a local specialty). The cuisine of this area is heavily in the dough family - pastas, dumplings, and buns. I had over twenty different dumplings - all gorgeously hand-made in shapes resembling the filling: chicken, fish, and even a sweet one shaped like a walnut shell, dark from buckwheat and filled with a rough WALNUT marzapan!! Others included fillings like tomato paste, seafood, pumpkin, pork and lotus root. There were ones made with wood-ear mushroom, and even rabbit!! I think tomorrow, I'll be venturing for some la mien - or "pulled noodles" - hand stretched and separated into noodles. I've seen it performed many times, and even tasted it. The dough products here have a bit of chewy sass, I think due to the type of wheat flour used, and excessive kneading. Very very tired! Will update tomorrow. Off to see the teracotta soldiers and the tomb of the first emperor! u.e.

Oh, duh! Yeah, that confused me too! Again, the reason we went was because it was close and a friend recommended it for a good lamb hot pot - and that, as we found out after sitting down, was out of season. Oh well, I've got more food pics to upload from today - but I've got to go edit them.u.e.

Thanks doc. Honestly, I would have posted my photos late last night around midnight, jet-lagged and cross-eyed, BUT, I keep having problems uploading photos into eGullet - that's the honest truth... if you could catch the administrators-that-be's ears, a more efficient photo upload system would be appreciated. For some reason, bulk uploading for me doesn't work for me - and thought of uploading one-by-one... well, it' sometimes just not feasible. u.e.

I'm travelling through China, and to the best of my abilities, will be posting pictures of my eating experiences. Roughly, my trip starts in Beijing, then to Xian, then to Shanghai and surrounding villages. To get things started, I need someone who can read Chinese to translate the this and this for me - my first proper meal. The pictures are all posted on my flickr account here. Will report back soon! Thanks! u.e.

Note the head on the drink. This was supposed to be "U.E.'s Spirit's Fizzy Non-Alky Drink", or something. Jasmine tea and citrus, with a touch of orange bitters and simple syrup to make it a bit less edgy. Oh, how sweet of all of you to think of my teetotaling absence... but for goodness sake, don't got hurting yourself on my account! Please be careful edsel! u.e. [edited to add: what the heck is a "class-four laser?" And what on earth would you do wit it? Sounds like something Cantu would pull out!! ]

Me too! Me too! Go ahead Big Country, tease me with what you've got in the freezer right now!! u.e. ← Vanilla Bean, Blackberry, White Chocolate Bing Cherry, Starwberry Balsamic Yogart Hold the scooper! Save some for me for when I return to KC!! u.e.

Me too! Me too! Go ahead Big Country, tease me with what you've got in the freezer right now!! u.e.

Congratulations, Chef McClure from half-way around the world! Yes, there have been underground currents on this bit of news and I'm excited for you and Starker's Reserve!Judy, not to hound you particularly - but can someone talk heirloom tomatoes to me? I've been dying to hear all about it! u.e.