Utenya

I asked my relatives what was the name of the dish, and they called it bai zhan ji. It's like hainan ji fan, but you are right Prawncrackers, they said the kind of chicken used is very special which gives it the unique texture. It's boiled, and after it's cooked they rub it with salt. Still no luck with the sauce however.

Hmmm, I believe I've always skipped that crucial part whenever attempting Hainan rice. Ehehehe. ^^;

Hello all, Just came back from Taiwan not too long ago and went to a place by the name of Shenkeng (my Chinese is not good enough to type it, by my computer is good enough to Copy and Paste! 深坑鄉), about 20 or so minutes away from Taipei. Boasting some of the best stinky tofu, they have three varieties, skewered & grilled with a sauce + condiment, fried & boiled in a soup, and a boiled non fried variety. My relatives said that the water they use in Shenkeng is unique and that's why their tofu is so good. But I digress, this post is about a chicken dish I had there. Below were chickens outside of a different restaurant than the one I ate the dish at. However almost every stinky tofu restaurant had a big pot of braised stinky tofu and strung up chickens in the front of their respective store. I haven't seen such yellow skinned chickens in the United States. These ones looked a lot more appetizing than the ones I can get form my local grocery store. I'm assuming that the cooking procedure is similar to making Hainan Chicken Rice, boiled. Up close, the chickens looked rather dry, and rubbed with salt. However when served the chicken was room temperature, perfectly cooked, and very moist, including the breast. Does anyone know the specifics as to how the chicken was prepared? Do they put in some tenderizing agent on the bird before boiling? I have tried cooking Hainan Chicken Rice a few times, and have never gotten chicken close to the texture that I had here. Below is a close up of the tasty chickens. The sauce was also very delicious. It was soy based, probably had some chicken broth since it was pretty light. There were carmelized shallots and maybe some added sugar as the sauce was slightly sweet, pieces of raw minced ginger, a slight spiciness from something I couldn't pick apart, and I think some pickled daikon (Luo Buo Gan?) that gave me that rubbery crunchy texture. Does anyone know the recipe to the chicken and/or the sauce or even the name of the dish? I would love to replicate this dish at home. Any help would be greatly appreciated! P.S. Is there a way so that photos don't come out so big?

I used some noodles I found at my local Chinese grocery market (Ranch 99). They were "Taiwanese Noodles". I can't read the first character, but I think it is Yang Chun Mian. They are semi chewy, made from all purpose flour, not the semolina which gives that good al dente bite. But I enjoy that kind of texture a lot when it comes to asian style noodle soups.

I made beef noodle soup the other day. It's a recipe that I've been continuously playing around with. It has beef shank & bones, five spice, onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and both light and dark soy sauces.

The pin yin "ZHUSHOUPAIGUTANG" means pig feet & rib soup. On the package the Chinese characters say SHOU PAI GU TANG. Never made it before, nor eaten such a dish, but hope that helps!

I think my post wasn't clear. Perhaps because as Steven explained it should be called American-Chinese food. I've had great Chinese food in the states, and authentic too. There are several great dim sum, cantonese, sichuan, and banquet restaurants around my vicinity, and frequented them many times growing up. The purpose of this post was to see how Chinese food in countries other than America have developed, and if they are similar to American-Chinese food.

Living my whole life in the United States and I am first generation Chinese, being the first born in the States (it gets confusing depending on which culture you come from), I've pretty much only experienced Chinese-American food eating at "popular" Chinese food restaurants like Panda Express or P.F. Changs. Sweet and sour pork, kung pao chicken, general tso's chicken, and walnut prawns seem to be big mainstays of the Chinese-American "fast-food" scene in the states and highly popular. People who haven't been to Chinese banquets or authentic Chinese food restaurants declare their love for Chinese food. These dishes are not found much in authentic Chinese dishes from the mainland if at all, but adapted to foreign tastes. Many of the proteins seem to be dumbed down to be more appealing to their foreign customers. Lacking the textural elements that are high prized in Chinese cuisine, like jellyfish, wood ear, niu jin (not sure of the translation) or the ridiculous amount of offal consumed by Chinese. I won't even get started about the diversity of critters consumed as well. I was wondering if the Chinese-American dishes such as listed above are prevalent in countries other than the United States, or are there more authentic dishes being served due to popularity. I did visit Italy and by insistence of my father, we ate at a Chinese restaurant X_X...don't ask. And the dishes were quite similar to the fare I would expect in the United States. Which comes to my question, internationally, outside of Asia, are Chinese dishes similar to the US ideal of what Chinese food is? The deep fried batter coated meats sauced with particular sauces, egg rolls, potstickers. Or are they more authentic? Japan and Korea have definitely taken Chinese food and made their own versions of popular dishes. Off the top of my head Ma Po Doufu is very popular and well known in both countries. I know that there are Chinatowns across the globe which do try to replicate authenticity for their own denizens, but I am thinking more along the lines of popular Chinese restaurants outside of the Chinatown enclave. I'm particularly looking to see responses from non asian countries close to Asia yet having a completely different culture. For example Australia.

Last year on a trip to Taiwan, my family and I went to a Hakka restaurant, and were served what I thought was normal fare that I've eaten before. Until this dish came out. Bee larvae! I was a bit reluctanat at first to try it, but as soon as I saw all my relatives happily chomping down on these delicate morsels, I gave it a go. It was like a light crunchy yet chewy on the inside peanut, and quite tasty!

Wow those pictures are making my mouth water so much! From the pictures, it looks like braised pork belly. The way my parents have braised is sauteeing garlic, green onions, and then the meat (usually they don't use pork belly for health reasons). Deglaze with rice wine, soy sauce, chicken broth and add in a satchet of spices. I think it's cinnamon, fennel, star anise, cumin and cloves. The egg is probably a tea leaf egg (cha ye dan). It's a hard boiled egg with it's egg shell cracked and reboiled in a soy broth mixture with tea leaves and spices, usually 5 spice. They sell them at every 7-11 in Taiwan, and are great snacks! As for the pickled veggies, it looks like takuan. The sauce is a bit different from the turkey rice. Shallots being the main flavor component as opposed to the different spices in the braised pork belly. Edit: should we create a new topic Taiwan Small Eats (台灣小吃)

The turkey rice dish is a specialty of this town. It is so popular however that you can eat it in most other cities in Taiwan. They have chain stores in Taipei that sell "Chiayi Turkey Rice" Unfortunately they pale in comparison to the savory sweet shalloty taste of the ones found in Chiayi. I don't know how the turkey became adopted into Taiwanese cuisine, though this dish is prepared with a Chinese flavour profile. I've never seen turkeys sold in their grocery stores or markets so I don't think there is anyone roasting turkeys. Not to mention Taiwan houses usually do not have ovens. Upon further research it appears the sauce is made separate from the shredded turkey. The dish only uses shredded poached turkey breast. So where does all the dark meat goto? Perhaps making the sauce. Oh how I miss all the small eats!

Wow, there's already a thread about turkey and Chinese food! I created this topic in Elsewhere in Asia/Pacific. But here it is in the correct Subforum. A long time lurker here, but finally getting off my lazy butt to post! With all the turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving, it reminded me of how much I missed turkey rice (火雞肉飯) that I ate from street stands in Chiayi (嘉義), Taiwan. It was shredded turkey with shallots and some sort of sweet sauce over rice. I tried making it the other night, carmelizing shallots, deglazing with soy sauce, chicken stock and adding some salt and sugar. It didn't come out quite like what I remembered. There was little or no sauce, and quite a bit darker than the one I ate. Does anyone know the recipe for this? Here's a picture of this delectable comfort food:

Thank you, I will try there. Wasn't sure where to put the topic.

A long time lurker here, but finally getting off my lazy butt to post! With all the turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving, it reminded me of how much I missed turkey rice (火雞肉飯) that I ate from street stands in Chiayi (嘉義), Taiwan. It was shredded turkey with shallots and some sort of sweet sauce over rice. I tried making it the other night, carmelizing shallots, deglazing with soy sauce, chicken stock and adding some salt and sugar. It didn't come out quite like what I remembered. There was little or no sauce, and quite a bit darker than the one I ate. Does anyone know the recipe for this? Here's a picture of this delectable comfort food:

Hello all! Long time lurker, and finally got myself to post! This has been my goto site everyday at work, and love the community here. Well here it goes, and don't know if there's been a topic in regards to this, but a premilinary search found nothing. When is the best time to put in fresh herbs, during cooking or after cooking? Say for example making a tomato sauce, some say that it's better to put in the fresh basil during cooking to infuse the flavour, while others say that it's better to put in the fresh basil after the sauce is done to retain the brightness of the basil and stronger flavours. Does it depend on the cooking process or what you are cooking? Help! Thanks!