Prawncrackers
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Posts posted by Prawncrackers
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I've not cooked anything for a whole week now
, due to this that and other. But i've been to my mum's tonight so i thought i'd share what we've just had here on the Dinner! thread for the first time. Steamed sea bass, poached chicken, spare ribs in plum sauce, choi sum and mixed stir fried green beans with fish cake. Simple authentic Cantonese home cooking:
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Great thread revival Chris, if you're interested i'll get my mum's recipe for you to try? It always taste really nice and i suspect it's really simple. I'd try it myself but i've not the time or the inclination for hanging meat (that could be misconstrued
). BTW, how did you slice your's so thin lengthways?
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Consider using a killing funnel. They keep the bird relatively still and make it easier to bleed the animal.
These take me back to when i was a kid. My mum would take me to the Halal butchers to get fresh chickens and seeing them slaughtered using these funnels. I remember one popping out of the funnel and running around neck half severed - i was quite disturbed by it. Though it is true what they say about Chickens not tasting as good as they were back then.
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The Ken Onion knife should come with it's own shrine !click!
As for the mojoman's tomato issue, all knives need to be sharpened after a while. Some are easier or more convenient to sharpen than others that's all. It's the eternal question with knives, do you go for the versatility and easy maintenence of Western-style knives. Or do you invest time in highly specialised and sometimes PITA Japanese ones?
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Chris, I do all my sharpening by hand so I judge the bevel angles by eye and feel alone. Every knife is different as is every user, Grasshopper! Actually, I’m sure one of the real Knife gurus around here could recommend the exact angle to use for your Edgepro system or they would, like me, persuade you to learn to use waterstones. If you’re getting this knife in a couple of months then that’s plenty of time to hone your sharpening skills on your other knives first.
BTW, I find the severing of one finger joint per infraction is usually enough to encourage proper knife usage or after a while no usage at all.
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... and yes, it will change your life. You will wonder how you ever managed with such blunt knives before. You will probably be memerised by the "damascene" cladding reflecting it at all angles under the strongest spotlight in your kitchen. You will eat more vegetables. You will follow family members into the kitchen even though you know that they are just fixing a quick sandwich - just in case they have any funny ideas about cutting that sandwich with your knife directly on a plate. For at least a couple of weeks all your letters will be opened very neatly. I recommend you put your family through Compulsory Basic Knife Training straight away. Discard any who do not make the grade.
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Chad Ward's tutorial on Knife Maintenance and Sharpening is extremely useful. I have Shun knife too (amongst others) - a Chinese Cleaver. Sharp knives are a kitchen joy, keeping them sharp can be enjoyable too! I use waterstones and there is a certain meditative satisfaction in using them. Once you get the hang of it there's no turning back.
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Are these home-made or can they be purchased in an Asian store? Do you have any idea what they are called (in English?).
I have no idea what they're called in Chinese let alone English! In my house it's just called "that thingy you stab pork skin with". Bought mine from a Chinese store here in the Birmingham, they're not that uncommon really so you should be able to pick them up where you are.
If you are buying make sure the prongs are sharp and safely secured into the block as you need to use a bit of force to pierce the pork skin all over. My mum told me a story of someone who was using one of these and got carried away using it too quickly. A loose prong was left in the pork as they were pulling up and before they knew it on the way down - disaster!
Mine is fairly new and needs sharpening as it certainly doesn't work as well as the one my mother has.
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Could this be the gadget used by Asian cooks to "dock" pork skin?
CORRECT!!!! This Chinese torture instrument come kitchen gadget is used to pierce pork skin all over. Instead of scoring the skin it gives a lovely even crackling finish to roast pork belly.
Is the hinged gadget some kind of mini waffle mould?
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How about this?
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What!!? No pictures of the final dish, such a tease!
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pameliachia's pie/tart/flan/quiche looks quite delicious and reminds me that i must get round to doing one for myself one day. Bacon, cheese and pastry is a winner in any combination!
Very pleased with myself this evening. The wife was suppose to do some grocery shopping but manged to forget completely! Rose to the challenge and knocked up the following in 20 mins using the meagre provisions in my freezer (Xiao Long Bao, Prawns in tomato sauce and Romaine Lettuce in Oyster Sauce):
So okay, there was an emergency batch of XLB in the freezer that i'd made ages ago but still...
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On my own again...
Peter Green, you cooked and ate all that on your own? Mango Pavlova looks delicious btw
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I do! Though I have a confession: since I grew up with shrimp carefully stripped of heads, shells, and everything, I've never been quite sure of the etiquette, say, in Chinese restaurants when presented with cooked whole head-and-shell-on shrimp. Especially when they've been dipped in a spicy coating, shell head and all, and fried, my assumption has been that you're meant to eat the whole thing, so I've crunched away happily ... and none of the waiters have looked at me funny yet ...
Etiquette, schmetiqutte!! Have you seen us Chinese eat?
There are some dry-fried preparations of prawns that allow you to eat the shells - salt and pepper prawns being one. Though there are a number of more saucy Chinese prawn dishes that require a certain level of dexterity with chopsticks to eat gracefully. If you do find yourself in polite company then pinch the end of the tail with the fingertips of your free hand. Rip the head off with your chopsticks and suck/crunch away at the head. Using your chopsticks peel away the shell around body of the prawn. The shell would have been split down the back and should come away in one piece, leaving you with a morsel of prawn to pop in your mouth and then daintily lick the tips of your fingers. Good luck, practise makes perfect!
Anyway back on topic: sony asked about fish eyes, they don't actually taste of anything. When cooked they become hard and opaque and have an almost chalky texture. It's the jelly around the eyes in the eye socket that is really delicious. It has that slimy slippery quality that some people crave and which others loathe. It's kinda hard to describe the taste though, i suppose it's like decribing the taste of an oyster; slimy, salty,.... the Chinese term "xian" describes it best
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4, People can't eat that much, especially such rich food
The average stomach capacity is about 4 cups, including drink, say 3 cups of food, You propose about 21 dishes. Anything more than a teaspoon or two of each and your guests will blow up.
Do not forget the "wafer thin mint" too!
In all seriousness though that menu sounds mind-boggling. If you manage to even pull half of it off and enjoy it then hats off to you. Don't forget to journal it!!
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“Never trust a round pizza”, that phrase stuck in my head when I first read it in that thread. It’s a catchy one-liner that encapsulates the ideology of rustic home-cooking, and at the same time takes a swipe at mass-catered uniform looking products. Isn’t it? Well, I think that was its intention. It’s just a shame that it’s blatantly wrong!! If I was a bona fide Italian pizza chef who had spent years perfecting my technique, honing my skills in producing a perfectly round pizza then I would be scandalised by that phrase.
There is a kind of perverse foodie snobbishness in that statement too if you look deeper but I’m willing to accept that it’s just another ill-considered ‘sound bite’.
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I'm day-dreaming of Doddie's (Domestic Goddess) grilled half tuna heads, digging the eye-jelly out with a soup spoon and slurping it down with a bowl of rice... mmmm <<insert drooling emoticon>>
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Percy, I've tried that whole corn meal routine for cleaning razorfish and for me it wasn't very effective. I'm convinced the only way to clean them properly before cooking is to squeeze them whilst they're still alive. Mind you it's such an unpleasant task that i've also convinced myself that it makes them tense and therefore cook up tough. That's why i clean them after they're cooked. That's my excuse and i'm sticking with it.
Edited to say i've added the Razor Clams in Black Bean Sauce to the Recipe Gullet.
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Razor Clams in Black Bean Sauce
This is a classic Cantonese dish that is a favourite in my household. It's an impressive looking dish that eats as good as it looks. I've never read a recipe for this but i'm sure there are many out there. This is another one of mine that has just evolved over time and is a mixture of east and west techniques. Traditionally the clams are steamed on the actual serving plate and presented whole dressed with a black bean sauce that has been cooked separately. This recipe has a more 'Moules Mariniere' style of cooking them.
Razor Clams (or Razor Fish in the UK) vary in size but i would suggest that 3 average sized ones per person is ideal. I've only ever cooked this dish with live clams so cannot vouch for the quality of frozen ones. The other ingredients for 6 clams are:
- 2 T BLACK BEANS
- 1 large clove of GARLIC, finely minced
- 1 fingertip sized piece of peeled GINGER, smashed
- 1 T VEG OIL
- 100 ml MIRIN
- 2 SCALLIONS, green tops finely sliced lengthways, whites finely sliced across
- 1 T LIGHT SOY, to taste
- 1 tsp CORN FLOUR, slaked with a little water
- 150 ml CHICKEN STOCK or WATER
1. Soak the black beans in a little hot water for ten minutes to soften them and to soften the flavour also. Drain and crush them gently before using.
2. Scrub the outside of the clams well. If you are feeling adventurous then open them up now and squeeze the greeney brown stuff out of their digestive tracts while they're still wriggling. Otherwise clean the stuff out after they're cooked...
3. Heat a large lidded saute pan and fry on a moderate heat the black beans, garlic, ginger and scallion whites in the veg oil. Before the garlic catches tip in the clams, toss all around then pour in the mirin and clamp the lid on. Increase the heat slightly and steam for two minutes - no more. (I started using mirin when i ran out of shaosing once and found that the sweetness complimented the clams superbly.)
The dish now needs to be plated up as quickly as possible.
4. Remove the clams from the pan leaving as much of the aromatics as possible in the pan. Add the soy and stock to the pan to make the sauce and let it bubble away gently whilst you separate the meat from the shells...
5. Arrange the shells on your serving plate. Slice your clams into bite sized pieces, cleaning as you go any gunk, discard the beaky mouth pieces. Scatter the pieces of clam meat back into the shells (presentation tip: six clams fill the six faces of three open shells perfectly).
6. Taste the sauce and adjust with soy if required. Thicken with the corn flour and sieve over the clams. Garnish with the green onion tops and eat immediately.
Keywords: Main Dish, Intermediate, Chinese, Seafood
( RG2020 )
- 2 T BLACK BEANS
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Snap weinoo , pork chop too!! Weird, because i've not cooked a pork chop in living memory.
Tamworth pork chop pan-fried with sage butter, crackling, potato & beetroot dauphinoise and peas:
Edited because i can't spell beetroot!!
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I've only enjoyed beef tendon twice; once was as a dim-sum dish and the other was part of a hot-pot. The dim-sum dish was i think braised and had a sweet chilli and sesame oil flavour - very nice. If i could recreate that dish i would very happy.
Never cooked tendon at home, I was kinda hoping you would have few ideas Dejah!
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You love your spice for breakfast don't you Percy! Me, i would wolf that down later in the day with some plain rice. Am i missing out by never having had a spicy brekky? Looks delish but i fear gastro-intestinal warfare that early in the day
Here's a change, my wife wanted a sweet breakfast so i duly obliged, brioche french toast with strawberries and maple syrup:
My wife loved it, for me it was okay - i'm still a savoury breakfast man, pork products will always rule
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Prawncracker, any special preparation for the razor clams before stir frying them?
No, i don't really bother anymore. I used to soak them for a couple of hours in a few changes of water but i still found you can't really avoid the grit, so nowadays i just give them a quick scrub. Either they're gritty or they're not! I did try once to squeeze the dark crap out of them but it's quite an unpleasant task as they squirm... a lot. So I clean them up after they're cooked, remove the 'beak' and clean out as much of the green crap as possible.
In this dish they weren't stir-fried but cooked whole as you would moules mariniere - steaming them open with some aromatics. Mmmm, think i might put this on the Recipe Gullett as this one is definitely one of those schizophrenic east meets west techinques that somehow works for me.
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I love the look of that beef tendon Dejah, the chewy sticky quality it has is surprisingly good isn't it? Did you prepare it from stratch, if so how is it done?
It's been exactly 4 months and 11 days since i last cooked Razorfish in Black Bean Sauce.... how do i know? Well i posted here last time i cooked it!! Choi Sum and Crab in the background too, enjoy:
Snails.........
in Cooking
Posted
As i mentioned upthread Whelks (or Snails) in Satay Sauce - yum! Never had them with b/bean sauce but it would work for me. I like fresh Sea Snails or Whelk simply boiled too and eaten in the British seaside manner - with salt & malt & white pepper. There's something about that chewy mouthful.